Living together is Love, but letting go is also Love.
Dying for your mate is Love but, living for your lost love?s sake is also Love.
Love is not just sunshine or dew,
It is rain and sometimes thunderstorm too.
Only True Love survives all pain
And the quest for life it makes again.
A bird?s eye view:
Rich girl, poor boy; meet by chance or destiny, their different worlds collaborate and they become friends, love blooms, enthralls and entwines around the two souls, they become one against all odds, true love triumphs over all discriminations and distance, but fate changes course and one sacrifices life for the sake of the other. Now, doesn?t that sum up the story of Titanic for the lay man? Or does it?
The story of Titanic is not so inconspicuous even to a lay man. It is an epic of a love story?a story that must be passed on from generation to generation like those of Romeo-Juliet, Heer-Ranjha, Laila-Majnoo to name a few. Of course, I?d say that the story of Titanic is a tad different since this one speaks of living for the sake of a lost love.
We have read & heard about Titanic, the British Steamer umpteen times but, for the sake of records I?d like to gist it here.
An excerpt from Walter Lord says:
The ?unsinkable? Titanic was believed to be the safest ship afloat. It sank on it?s first voyage after striking an iceberg. Titanic was a British Steamer. On the night of April 14-15, 1912, during it?s first trip from England to New York City, it struck an iceberg and sank. The Titanic sighted the iceberg just before the crash, but too late to avoid it. The collision tore a 300-foot (91 meter) gash in it?s hull. The lifeboats held less than half of the approximately 2200 persons, and took on mostly women and children. The ship sank in about 2.5 hrs. The liner Carpathia picked up 705 survivors. The death reports varied. The location of the wreakage of Titanic is still not exactly known. It was about 500 miles southeast of Newfoundland.
Hey! The title of my review says, ?Read between lines? and that?s exactly what James Cameron did when he made TITANIC, The Film. In between those official reports, he read a story, a love story that would be so hurtful to the soul yet, an inspiration for Lovers around the world?with the simple yet, trivial message that ?Life must go on??.
Our film is a story which talks about a few simple well-known theories of love:
Love is blind (be it financial status, race or Class, Love has got nothing to do with it)
Love has no limits (Love is a phenomenon of giving & receiving without accounts)
Love can make your weakness, your strength
Love says that no matter what, Life goes on and the love once put in your heart is here to stay forever and ever?
The Story:
Jack Dawson is our pauper-?Prince Charming? while Rose DeWitt Bukater is our beautiful but, lonely Princess. She is the typical bird in a golden cage with a yearning to fly freely. She is engaged to Caledon 'Cal' Hockley but, is definitely not happy about it. Rose is a rich girl whose heart lies among the simple non-materialistic joys of Life. Jack wins the tickets to travel by the much-hyped ?unsinkable? Titanic through gambling and packs off on his cruise with his buddy Brock Lovett in tow. Rose is aboard the steamer from England to New York City where she?ll wed the affluent and well-groomed ?Cal?, much against her desire. ?Cal? apparently is deeply in love with Rose and this is more relevant in the scenes towards the end of this film.
This film brings us face-to-face with the reality of ?Class discrimination? and I?d be fooling if I were to say that this was a thing of the past, although it?s not practiced on a large scale as it must?ve been in the earlier days.
Coming back to our story, in this particular scene where Rose is standing on the deck and Jack notices her for the first time, the expression on Kate Winslet?s face proves how talented an actress she is. That faraway look in her eyes and the expression on her face clearly depicts the character?s uneasiness of doing things she doesn?t want to.
The scene of Jack & Rose?s first interaction is worth a memory of a lifetime. Rose is ready to give up on life & decides to jump into the ocean when her knight (equally charming minus the shining armor) comes to her rescue & knocks some sense into her by making her give up on her futile mission. The scene of Rose dangling from Jack?s arm with the ruffian sea below ready to gulp her down is one of the many memorable scenes.
Well, I won?t go on with the story in detail here onwards coz it?d be a shame if anyone doesn?t watch this movie just because they know the story. I?d just list a few scenes that are relevant in their own sweet simple ways.
The scene in which friendship strikes a chord between Rose & Jack. Jack shows off his talents (even that marathon of spitting) to impress Rose and Rose seems to be a quick learner, eh? Somehow, it gives me an impression that Friendship must be the base of all good, strong relationships!
The tap-dance sequence between Jack & Rose. Believe me, I had as much fun watching this scene as Rose must?ve had dancing there.
The scene where ?Cal? is furious about Rose & Jack?s affair. Somehow one can sense the deep love that Cal has for Rose amidst all his fury and my heart goes out to this character for his agony of having to let-go.
The scene of Titanic being hit by the tip of the iceberg Trust me, I?ve noticed viewers (including yours truly) trying to steer in a particular direction while watching this flick as if each one of us was making an attempt to steer clear of the iceberg?s way.
The sequence of scenes from this point onwards. Each one is worth every emotion in this world. Emotions like desperation to get help, hope for a miracle, determination to never say die,perseverance to help someone to safety, Promise to die together, if can?t live together (the scene where an old couple is lying on bed while the Titanic is sinking, holding each other in a embrace), anger at being discriminated upon, relief at being the priviledged one to be safe, silent strength to look fate in the eye, and so many more emotions that can only be felt.
The scene of Titanic sinking after it gets ripped off in the middle and later on, the one of Jack drowning made my heart plummet a thousand feet under. Every part of me ached to just reach out and stop this from happening but, that?s exactly what a good film is supposed to do to it?s viewers and in this context, I?d call TITANIC a ?Masterpiece?.
Titanic-A simple story told so beautifully, A trivial message said so simply.
