Titanic

This is my favorite movie of all time, to date. I know. People say it is goofy, girly, lame, whatever you want to call it. Critics bash the screenplay and it seems everyone hates James Cameron. This movie inspired me to want to make movies. I love the epicness of the film. More so, I like the fact that the story is a footnote on history. I want the first screenplay that I write to be just like this. This was interestingly enough, just about the only Oscar that Titanic did not win in 1997. In fact, it was not even nominated. I do not care. I love the story, and I am completely inspired to write and create by it. That is good art- art that inspires other people to want to make art too. The screenplay provides many insights into life during that time. The themes are perfect and well thought out. I especially like the singing of the navy hymn during church, with the focus on the lines "for those in peril on the sea." Great dramatic irony. A lot of people find the script very trite and sardonically sweet at points but almost every line is great to me. I will argue this to a point. I will go on and on to you if you ever talk to me about the technical aspects of making this film. More than any of the details however was simply how much respect Cameron had for his story. He really respected his characters. I have read the original screenplay for this movie from beginning to end and watch an interview of James Cameron about how he went about directing such an epic movie. What really struck me was the ending of the story. He had originally written the story to be more about his explorer, portrayed by Bill Paxton, than to be about Rose and Jack. At the end of the movie, there was supposed to be this big confrontation between Rose, Bill's Character and Rose's daughter about the Heart of the Ocean. Once Cameron got into the cutting room and started editing his movie together, He realized that the story that really mattered and the only one that the audience would really care about was that of Rose and Jack. He changed the ending to have Rose do what we all know she does to maintain that purity of the story. This is the genius of James Cameron. He knows what his story should really be, not what he had originally created, but what it had become as the art and he completely understood what the audience would care about. That is the mark of a good director. Of the elements of the film that are great (all of them), the one that strikes me the most after the script is the score. James Horner really created the best score for a film ever. It might not be the most technically brilliant piece of music written for film, but it did what music in film is supposed to do better than any before it or to follow it have done. His score captured the time, characters, themes, emotions, action and feeling all into the music and actually added to the story by pulling at the heartstrings of the viewers in perfectly timed moments. This is greatness is validated by the fact that it is the best selling score or soundtrack for a film of all time. No, this movie did not get any acting awards, though Kate Winslet and Gloria Stuart were nominated for their two portrayals of Rose Dewitt Bukater. This was an ensemble piece and each of the performances did exactly what they were meant to do. They portrayed commentary on class systems, on inner struggles, on utter despair in the face of death. All of the acting was top notch and this movie really launched the careers of many of the actors. Other than Gloria Stuart, my personal favorite in the movie is Kathy Bates as the Unsinkable Molly Brown. Talk about born to play a role. The special effects in this movie we, of course incredible, and James Cameron and his team definitely did groundbreaking work developing new technologies to make this film possible. Interestingly enough, however, a large part of the film was simply filmed on life-size models of the Titanic. This was one of the best parts to Cameron's genius. He wanted to make it real, so he did. Attention to detail in this film is almost unparalleled. As you all know, this is the highest grossing movie ever (until AVATAR, Cameron's latest work), and I believe that it is because it is one of the best movies of all time. It made me fall in love with cinema and I hope you can enjoy it as much as I do.