Bad start,then gets much better

Rating: 10/10 (27 November 2000)

The start was very Disney like.Very bad dialogue and very condescending.But I was patient and I found the movie turning into gold with every passing minute starting with the scene where Leonardo was dining with the rich people,then from then on the film just kept impressing me.The movie started loosing it's Disney compromises with every minute passing.This movie could have been perfect with a better start,particularly with the dialogue.But after all the positive things this movie has shown,it has my blessings as a bonafide classic.Very depressing though.Very sad story but that was intended and the love story had it's power thru the tragedies around it.One would expect tragedy with a movie regarding this sort of historical disaster anyhow.It reminds me of another romantic movie with a very tragic ending that I love which is "A Place In The Sun" with Elizabeth Taylor and Montgomery Clift.But I accepted the tragic end of that one becouse it was made clear that Clift confessed to murder in one form or another.But Leonardo in this movie was such a gallant heroic young man that it depresses us to see him end that way.I'm not a nut for depressing romantic movies but I can appreciate them.This movie won me in the end.It also had one of the most suspensefull scenes I have ever seen.I was literally sweating and could hardly contain myself when Leonardo was being rescued from those handcuffs!This movie had that classic magic indeed.........