Scary, and a realistic semi-documentary

Rating: 7/10 (6 July 2015)

There are three stories here, all very well written and produced. We all know the basic story of the ship the Titanic, but Cameron's depiction of the actual events is so much better than any written account.
We see the captain, we see the doubts as he weighs up the pressures he is under from the ship owners, and the publicity people. Then, later, he has to face the reality that his ship is going to sink and he is probably going to die, probably unpleasantly. And we see the ship's designer and builder. We see the officers and the crew and all the problems they face and how they react. Sometimes well, sometimes not. We see the wealthy first-class passengers and their life of luxury, now they face death and can't do anything about it.
The production of all these events is impressive, walls bursting, floods of water, people sliding down the tilted deck, falling off. Then we see the horrible sight of the lifeboats as they search for anyone still living in the freezing water. So graphic, as is the first scenes of the modern attempt to recover items from the wreck, especially the way they explain to Rose what physically happened. Clever.
I suppose most viewers will concentrate on the story of Jack (Dicaprio) and Rose (Winslet). But this part, although very well done, is quite ordinary, just another love/lust story. He saves her life, she saves his later. Not many standout scenes or dialogue for either of them.
The third part of the story is Rose, 84 years later. The casting by Mali Finn is great. Gloria Stuart is a recognizable older version of Rose and including her joins many of the events throughout the film. Very clever, well done Mr Cameron.