Titanic

Rating: 8/10 (28 April 2016)

Rounding out a three-way tie for most Academy Award wins, James Cameron's 1997 Best Picture-winning film Titanic, was as massive in scope as the doomed titular White Star liner. Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet join together to tell the story of the most well-known nautical disaster of the 20th century. Cameron takes some liberties with the telling of the disaster, largely through the injected romance between a young aristocrat and a struggling artist. The story is told in sweeping Cameron fashion, that he is well known for, through a beautiful juxtaposition of tragedy and doomed courtship.
Boarding the luxurious R.M.S. Titanic with her family and fiancé, Rose DeWitt Bukater (Kate Winslet) feels like she is in shackles boarding a slave boat. The beautiful young woman of 17 is being married off to a man that views her as property and a reflection of himself rather than a person to build a life with. Once the ship docks in Philadelphia, Rose is to marry Caledon 'Cal' Hockley (Billy Zane), a wealthy oil businessman in a union arranged by her mother Ruth Dewitt Bukater (Frances Fisher). Rose has no attraction or interest in building a life together with Cal, and their marriage is seen as a way out of the financial difficulty the death of Rose's father has brought to their family. While pondering her future plight along the ship deck, Jack Dawson (Leonardo DiCaprio), a poor vagabond who won his ticket on the liner in a poker game locks eyes with her. Instantly smitten, Jack's new role is to break social barriers and explore a romance with Rose. Jack finally gets his chance when he talks Rose off the ledge of the ship one night when she is consumed by despair over her upcoming nuptials and sees suicide as the only way out. Being invited to dinner with Cal and Rose's family as a gesture of thanks for his being at the right place at the right time, Jack borrows a suit and charms Rose. Knowing how she feels about her life and fiancé, Jack stops at nothing to convince Rose that they can endure a relationship with each other filled with love and the mutual freedom Rose so desires. The story of the doomed love is told through 101-year old Rose after her necklace has been found aboard the sunken wreckage by a team of excavators led by Brock Lovett (Bill Paxton).
Taken at what it is, Titanic is a wonderful film. Cameron beautifully juxtaposes the romance along with the historically accurate depiction of the ship's voyage. The film is heavy on romance, however, and if that's not your preferred genre you will struggle to look past it and focus on the history alone. The film looks as beautiful as it sounds, which is no easy feat given the subject manner. The elegant music accompanies the riches that shine through the set and cinematography in a perfect union. Leonardo DiCaprio is wonderful in the film and walks the line between boyhood charm and adult charisma that can be counted on quite well. As good as Winslet was in the role, she seemed miscast for the part. Her mature beauty was difficult to accept as a 17-year-old young woman. The chemistry between the two actors, however, was magical, and may be the reason to overlook Winslet not being believable as a teenager. Class and social standings are mainstays of exploration throughout the film. Rose loves art, and Jack is an artist in the time where even Pablo Picasso's works are looked upon as infantile, with Cal proclaiming that he "will never amount to a somebody". In a world that only accepts one way to live and one idea to live up to, Jack and Rose can't find a place to fit in, which is only made better by them finding each other; and really, who can't relate to the feeling of being an outsider in the world in which they live?