By Sanjay Prasad Paudel
Titanic is a 1997 blockbuster film produced and written by James Cameron. It had won 11 Oscar awards. Based on the accounts of the sinking of the RMS Titanic in 1912, it depicts the romance and disaster at the sea. The ship was believed to be unsinkable by its manufacturer but it sank down at the bottom of the North Atlantic Ocean at 2.30 in the morning on April 15, 1912.
Like his other brilliant movies such as Terminator (1984), Terminator Two : The Judgment day (1991), The Abyss (1989), Aliens (1986) and Avatar (2009), Titanic is very a beautiful movie starred by Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet. Billy Zane, Bernard Hill, Jonathan Hyde, Frances Fisher, Danny Nucci, David Warner, Gloria Stuart and Bill Paxton, among others. The main protagonist is DeCaprio and Winslet is his co-star. There are two kinds of villain in the movie. The first one is man – Caledon Hockley, who is vulnerable but other is nature that is very powerful. Titanic is a story of man fighting against fierce nature.
The romantic aspect of the movie grows with the love saga between Jack and Rose. The movie opens with complete blackness. Treasure hunters – Anatoly Mikailavich, Brock Lovett and Lewis Bodine – boarded the research vessel to find a rare diamond amidst the wreck of Titanic.
Ghost of Titanic
Titanic manufacturer, Thomas Andrews, considered it unsinkable. But the story goes against what he claimed. Brock Lovett, a salvage superstar, has come two-and-a-half miles down the bottom of the North Atlantic Ocean but each time the ghost of titanic attracts him very much. He is also best known for finding Spanish gold in the Caribbean.
Fortunately, they find, in the glare of the sun lights, a small piece of steel in the afternoon. Technicians find out some papers in the chest, take them out. One of the technicians coaxes some letters into the water tray. Among them is a pencil drawing of a girl in her late teens. It is semi-nude. The girl has a diamond necklace with a large and beautiful heart-shaped stone.
One day, while throwing a pot on a potter’s wheel in her house, Rose Calvert comes to know that Brock Lovett is presenting live report via CNN TV from the Atlantic Ocean on Keldish and the report is extremely related with her past. She herself contacts with Lovett by phone and tells him that the nude picture is of her. She travels up to Atlantic Ocean and meets Lovett accompanied by other crew members. She deals with them that they will return the drawing to her. For this, she should tell the story of Titanic disaster.
Unhappy Rose
On April 10, 1912, Titanic heads towards New York along with 1500 passengers from Southampton of England. She is called the ship of dreams. Rose, 17, her fiancée Caledon Hockley and Ruth also travel by the ship. They are accompanied by Lovejoy and two maids. Rose does not like to go to New York along with her fiancée but her widow mother Ruth insists her so strongly that she cannot refuse it. She is not happy with herself although her fiancée Caledon is very rich, handsome and arrogant.
Quite the contrary, Rose thinks Titanic as something that enslaves her. Meanwhile, Jack Dawson, 20, and an American boy win the money and tickets of Titanic by playing cards with Fabrizo against a couple of Swedes, Olaf and Sven. The two boys look very happy as they travel by the ship. It is already night when Jack finds Rose jumping off the poop deck .This is the first time we see both of them. However, Rose argues with him for a few moments and they come to terms later.
But suddenly she slips off the edge of the deck. After a few moments she is rescued by Jack but Rowe suspects Jack and invites Master At Arms. He handcuffs Jack. Cal, Rose’s fiancée, Colonel Archibald Gracie, Lovejoy, Master At Arms are in front of Jack.
Furious, Cal asks Jack why he put his hands on Rose. But later Rose convinces him that it was an accident and Jack saves her life. Then, he removes handcuffs from him. Jack and Rose come into friendship. Jack recounts what he did in Los Angeles and why he decided to go to Paris. As time passes, their friendship grows in such a way that he teaches her how to spit like a man.
Jack in the party
As a sign of gratitude for saving Rose’s life, Jack is invited to have a party with Cal, Ruth, Rose, Molly, Ismay, Gracy and the Titanic builder Thomas Andrews. Taking advantage of the opportunity, he slips a folded note into her palm. It is a secret message that he wants to meet her at the clock. Rose comes to the third class general room with Jack. Jack and Rose dance. There they meet Fabrizo, Helga, Tommy and other. Everyone loves her attitude because the attending folks never have an opportunity to have a party with a high class lady in their life. In the party, Jack catches her as she loses her balance. After the party they come to the boat deck. It is nightfall. Audience see a shooting star falling down from the sky.
Next day there is an argument between Cal and Rose. Because Cal was waiting for her last night but she failed to turn up. He knows that she enjoyed the party and danced with others. He gives her warning not to behave like that again in future. Both her mother Ruth and Cal don’t want Rose to meet Jack. Ruth reminds her that her father made them bankrupt and left nothing. They are now burdened by bad debts covered by a good name. So, Ruth wants to cash in on her husband’s name by sacrificing Rose to Cal and spend a luxurious life.
Love-making inside Renault
In one of the beautiful moments of their life, Jack and Rose come across a new brand Renault car. They kiss each other and even make love at the back seat of the car. Unfortunately, their love cannot go longer when the ship hit an iceberg towers. The crewmen did everything to avoid the collision. This is the point from where 1,500 passengers met their worst fate. Now the whole movie revolves around the rescue operation, then the tragedy.
The ship is badly hit by the iceberg. The sea water flows above the ship. Rats are running away from the water. People are screaming and running helter-skelter. Woman with their babies look much nervous. Cal and Lovejoy don’t want Jack to be closer with Rose. They plot a conspiracy. Lovejoy puts the Heart of the Ocean into the pocket of Jack without his knowledge. Cal, Barnes, Master At Arms and Lovejoy wait for Jack and Rose.
Steward Barnes finally pulls the Heart of Ocean out of the pockets of Jack’s coat. Rose and Jack are stunned. Master At Arms starts to handcuff jack. Jack requests Rose not to believe them. Cal tells him that he is a professional to do with the Ocean of Hearts. Rose becomes confused. Jack argues with them that they must have put it into his pocket.
There is a dramatic moment in the story when Lovejoy says that even the overcoat does not belong to Jack reading “Property of A. L. Ryerson”. Master At Arms joins to Lovejoy mentioning that the overcoat has been stolen. Inside Master At Arms office Jack is handcuffed by Lovejoy. He puts the key into his pocket.
At this time the crew members are taking hapless passengers into their boats. Ruth and Cal along with Rose are also preparing to board the boat. But, Rose would not like to go with them and runs away from them. Cal follows after her. She gets Andrews to tell the whereabouts of Jack. Rose finds out Jack and breaks cuff with an axe.
Firing on Jack
Lovejoy and Cal find her with Jack while Jack is convincing her to get into the boat. She is unwilling to get into it without Jack. Cal also requests her to get into it and takes off his coat and puts it on her. But all of a sudden she hurls herself out of the boat into the rail of the A – Deck promenade. Cal follows runs to the railing. He grabs the pistol from Lovejoy’s waistband and fires on Jack. He chases Rose and Jack while firing bullets at them. Cal remembers that he puts the diamond in his pocket and Rose puts it on. He convinces Lovejoy to follow Rose by handing over the pistol to him. Cal promises that if Lovejoy is able to find the diamond he will give it to Lovejoy. Lovejoy follows Jack and Rose. Jack hits him. Lovejoy falls on the floor. As they flee the scene, they hear a child crying. He takes the child in his arm. A Russian sees him with the baby and cries out and grabs the child away from him.
Rose and Jack meet Thomas Andrews, who gives his lifebelt to Rose and wishes good luck. Later, when we see Rose floating above the ocean water. The water is below 4 degrees and very cold. She is very weak and has lost hope of life. Jack is with her and looks asleep. He encourages Rose not to give up hope. The body of Jack is also floating. She gathers strength and releases herself from Jack and heads to grab a whistle. Jack sinks onto the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. She grabs the whistle from Chief Officer Wild’s body and blows it. Lowe finds her blowing and turns the boat toward her. She is finally rescued thanks to ship, Carpathiya that saves her.
Rose’s new life
On 15th April, 1912, in the afternoon, Rose meets Caledon Hockley when she is sipping her tea in the deck of Carpathiya. Cal says her that he and Ruth are looking for her. In answer, she says him to tell her mother that her daughter died in the catastrophe. Cal turns and goes away. On April 18, she arrives in New York and gazes at the statue of liberty as Fabrizo imagines about it when he is travelling by the ship. She regains confidence and starts her new life. She introduces herself as Rose Dawson to the immigration office.
We see again old Rose. She is with Lovett and his crew. She talks with them. Later, we see the diamond sinking into the ocean. Blackness returns to the final scene. Rose, 17, goes into Jack’s arms. We see the passengers, officers and crew members of Titanic smiling and applauding.
(Paudel is a freelance writer)
