A grandma's story

After failing to find a good show to watch on TV in the several minutes I spent channel surfing one night, I finally decided to just look for a movie from my video collection.

I was in the mood for something like a romantic comedy but I don’t know why I settled for James Cameron’s Titanic (1997). I’ve seen the film many times before that I have memorized Celine Dion’s My Heart Will Go On, the movie theme song of this movie which to date is the highest grossing film of all time and is one of only three films to have won an amazing 11 Oscar awards.

Titanic is based on the 1912 sea disaster that shocked the world. But the plot was centered on the love story of the drifter Jack Dawson (Leonardo DiCaprio ) and upper-class Rose DeWitt Bukater (Kate Winslet) who fell in love with one another aboard the ill-fated ship. One of cinema’s best love stories was told by Gloria Stuart playing the role of the hundred-year-old Rose, who narrates the film set in the present time.

In the story, Stuart’s character recalls her memories aboard the Titanic. She is considered by treasure hunters led by Brock Lovett (Bill Paxton) as the key in finding the necklace set with a valuable blue diamond called the Heart of the Ocean that was believed to have sunk along with the ship.

The deep sea exploration turned into a story telling session with the older Rose as she recalls what happened on that fateful day. The set of the movie is an eye candy as the production designers made a decent recreation of what it was like during the early 1900s. The special effects were breathtaking and groundbreaking especially during the scenes the Titanic started to capsize and sink.

And who can forget the now classic lines from the movie like Jack’s triumphant, “I’m the king of the world”; his cheesy but sweet, “If you jump, I jump”; and of course his tearjearker of a goodbye “Promise me you’ll survive. That you won’t give up, no matter what happens, no matter how hopeless.”

There is really nothing new about the love story of Jack and Rose. Their you-and-me-against-the-world situation has been used in classic novels to pocketbooks to TV series and films. But there is definitely something extraordinary in them that was able to capture the hearts and imagination of almost anyone who sees the film. Or maybe, there is just a special place in our hearts for our grandparents’ amazing stories.

The central love story might be fictional but some characters in the film are based on real historical figures. One of them is actor Victor Garber’s character Thomas Andrews, the man who built the Titanic. In reality, it is unknown exactly how he died but it was suggested that he perished when the smoking room split in two. Other real-life characters are the ship’s Captain, Edward John Smith; Joseph Bruce Ismay who used his position as White Star Line managing director to influence Captain Smith to go faster with the prospect of an earlier arrival in New York and favorable press attention; and Colonel John Jacob Astor IV, a first-class passenger who was said to be the richest man on the ship.

The elderly Rose ended her story as Lovett also called off his treasure hunting. But no one noticed what Rose was keeping in her possession all along. It was revealed that she has the Heart of the Ocean. She drops the precious jewelry into the sea to bury it deep into the water along with the memories of the most important event of her life.

The film ends with a shot of Rose in bed. Cameron created a joyful final scene for the film where the young Rose is reunited with Jack at the Grand Staircase of the Titanic, surrounded and applauded by those who perished on the ship. This remarkable film only deserves a great ending — Jack and Rose locked in a passionate kiss.

The colossal ship might have sunk as a tragedy but this grandmother’s story has remained unsinkable until today.