A Great Film - Even With A Flawed Love Story

Rating: 8/10 (24 July 2005)

Lot of men truly hate this movie. I don't blame them. An ultra-silly love story that is basically unrealistic as well as naive; it's a purest example of puppy love.
However, I really do think this is an excellent film. You take away the love story, and you will see a very accurate portrayal of an very tragic event.
There are some scenes that will break everyone's heart. One is the old couple waiting to die in their bed as their room is being consumed by water. Another is the string quartet playing music while death and destruction surround them. The scene that really wrenches my gut is when the captain commits suicide. I find these scenes very emotional mainly because they probably actually happened.
Is the love story really corny? You bet. But many films such as "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon", "The English Patient", and even "Lord of the Rings" have lot of silly sentimental corny love story lines but they are much more acclaimed than Titanic. I have a feeling the reason why this film got so much bad rap is that much of the audience are very young females and that their being head-over-heels over DiCaprio annoyed lot of men. (I think DiCaprio DID do a mediocre performance in this movie.) But the silly love story in my mind didn't affect the emotionally devastating impact I had watching the powerful sequences of death and dying. "Saving Private Ryan" is the only other film that affected me more than "Titanic" in showing the horror of human beings struggling to survive.