Titanic

Forget just about everything you’ve ever thought about James Cameron. I know that everyone knows he’s a great action director. He’s made them so many times that he has pretty much got his own formula. He’s also never really been thought of as a “human story” director. The closest he ever came to that was in Terminator 2 when we were supposed to cry for the bad guy from the first one. He came close. He’s better at it than most action directors, though.

This movie redefines Cameron’s legacy. If you never thought he could do it, you were wrong. If you thought that big budget and behind dead-line meant disaster, you were wrong. If you thought this was just a way to cash in on the recent disaster movie craze, you were wrong. Cameron is an amazing director (in my book, anyway) and this film is worth every penny of the $200 million plus spent on it.

If you read my review of Contact you know that I tend to gush about movies that I like. It’s hard to keep myself from doing that. I don’t think I’ll even try on this one. If I embarass myself, at least it’s for a good cause.

Everything about this film is amazing. First, there’s the story. It’s about the Titanic (I put this here as if you couldn’t guess from the title and the hype), but it’s also about so much more. It’s about class struggles. It’s about women’s place in their own classes. It’s about one of the greatest disasters of all time. But, most of all, it’s about love. The kind of love that seems to only be written about. The undying love of two young people who know that it just can’t be, but they want it to be anyway.

Jack, a young American artist (Leonardo DiCaprio) and Rose, a young aristocat (Kate Winslet) meet by chance. Jack wins a couple of tickets aboard the Titanic for himself and his friend. When they get on board they stay with their own poor group. They are mainly the ethnic groups of the day. Rose is on board with her mother and her fiancee, Cal (Billy Zane in one of the most hated roles in recent memory). They are the upper class and they believe that the lower class should stay where they are. Rose is a bit different, though. She is a rebel and she really doesn’t love this abusive and hateful man that she’s supposed to marry. Along the way we meet some other colorful characters. There’s the “unsinkable” Molly Brown (yes, I believe it’s the same character you might be thinking of) played perfectly by Kathy Bates. There’s Captain E.J. Smith (Bernard Hill) who is pushed into making the ship go faster than he knows he should. There’s the ship’s designer (I can’t remember his name or the man who played him) who seems to see the disaster coming before anyone else does. There are many other minor stories going on throughout the film that would take up way too much space to tell.

The real story begins when Rose becomes so distraught by her position that she decides to jump off the bow of the ship. Jack, who saw her once before and was already slightly smitten, saves her life. Of course, in doing so, he is accused of attacking Rose. This is cleared up, but Cal and Rose’s mother never really forgive him for the “attack.” He is, however, invited to dinner for one of the funniest scenes of the film. As time goes on Rose realized that she is in love with her dashing savior. The most romantic scene (and the most erotic in a PG-13 movie) is when she poses for him in the nude. It is handled much more tastfully than I ever would have expected. Even though they did show her almost completely naked, it was not gratuitous at all.

The truth of their love comes in full bloom when the ship starts to sink. (I hope I’m not giving anything away there, but if you didn’t know that the Titanic sank you probably shouldn’t have access to a computer.) Jack sacrifices himself for Rose at least three or four times in an increasingly dangerous way, something that she knows Cal would never do.

All of this is framed by the story of Rose as an old woman. She sees the sketch that Jack drew of her on the news one night and decides to take a visit to the place of her destiny. There, Brock Lovett (Bill Paxton in his one millionth role for Cameron) is trying to find the “Heart Of The Sea.” This is the necklace that Rose was wearing in the sketch. Before he can go down again Rose calls him and comes to the ship. She then tells her amazing story.

Then, there’s the acting. (You forgot we were doing a list, didn’t you?) Everyone is perfect. There is not one mistep through the whole film. Even Billy Zane and Bill Paxton are in excellent form. (Paxton is cool sometimes, but I’m tired of seeing him all over the place. Zane, well, I don’t really have an opinion of him. A friend of mine hates him, though. Go figure.) Of course, the real stars are DiCaprio and Winslet. Strangely enough they even out do the ship. I’ve been a fan of both of these actors for at least a couple of years now. Kate was first seen by most people in Ang Lee’s Sense And Sensablity. This one is really good, but check out Heavenly Creatures, also. This was her first role and it’s a great movie. Very strange, but where else can you see a claymation scene with Orson Welles? Leo is one of the best actors of his generation, if not the best. Even if the movie isn’t very good (Total Eclipse, The Quick And The Dead–although I thought it was cool in a cheesy sort of way) he is always great. To think he came from such training grounds as “Growing Pains.” What a way to start.

Even though I have always liked them a lot, this movie made me fall in love with both of them. These are the kind of people that I would want to be around me. I don’t know that I would want to love Rose because she is so perfect with Jack. They would be my best friends and I would be inspired by their love. Kate Winslet, on the other hand, I would want to love. She has a certain elegance about her. There’s a reason why she’s been in so many period movies. She has the look for it. What other actress her age could do it? She’s beautiful and ethereal. It’s hard to sum up how I feel about her. She definitely has a place in my favorite acresses book. And Leo, well, I don’t know that I would get along with him. I hear he’s pretty much just a punk. He might be a little too modern for the part, but by the half hour mark I didn’t care. It only showed itself a couple of times, and it was more in the writing than in his acting. At one point Jack and Kate are running behind a man who is saying the “As I walk through the valley of the shadow of death” prayer. Jack says, “Why don’t you walk a little faster through that valley.” Well, it’s not a great line, but he delivers it well. One thing about Leo, he’s got the “troubled teen” down. I can’t think of a role he’s had that wasn’t a “troubled teen.” He’s a great actor, though. I think that at some point (if not for this film) both Kate and Leo will win an Oscar. They’ve both been nominated before (for Sense And Sensability and What’s Eating Gilbert Grape?). Both of them and the movie itself have already been nominated for Golden Globes. How far away could it be? I can’t imagine his acceptance speech, though. “Yeah. Thanx. Whatever.”

Then there’s the direction. (We’re still in the list.) Cameron has outdone himself this time. There are shots of Kate Winslet that make her even more beautiful than she’s been in other films. He made both Kate and Leo shine out over the special effects. He realized that the human story of the lovers was more important than having huge action scenes with a lot of people being killed. (Although, I think there are more people shown dying in this one than all of his earlier films put together.) There are only a few times where he falls into his old traps, and even then it is done to further the development of character. There are guns used, but only by the “bad guys.” They are used as weapons of evil or panic instead of shooting a way out of a situation. For the most part he keeps his action tendancies at bay and lets the story and acting speak for itself.

If I were on the Academy this would be at the top of my list for Best Picture and Director. There have been few movies recently (and especially this year) that have affected me the way this one has. I saw it with two friends of mine and we all agreed. One of us cried and two of us came very close. (I’ll let you guess which one I was.) One of my friends said that he probably wouldn’t watch it again. There’s no way he could get the same affect out of it the second time around. Especially not on the small screen.

At three hours plus it is a daunting exercise in sitting down, but it’s worth every pain in the butt and every cent you spend on the ticket. I think everyone should see this movie if only to see the greatest love story of the year. The special effects are great, but it’s the fireworks that make it the best film of the year.