Computer Age

Titanic (1997)

Director: James Cameron
Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet, Billy Zane, Kathy Bates, Frances Fisher, Gloria Stuart, Bill Paxton, Bernard Hill

Well, yes, what are the things: between late 2007 and early 2008 are met ten years since the premiere of Titanic (in Spain on January 8, 1998, and server can boast of having attended the "premiere"). You will wonder what the hell do dedicating space on this page to a film rated by many as mediocre, and with a plot that I could have very well happen to me while enrolled the first year of kindergarten. But apart from that, we must recognize its merits in this gigantic mamotreto film, following Chambers, whose history is so interesting, or more than the mamotreto itself, and that will certainly end up inspiring a movie based on the shooting happened at the time with Citizen Kane (RKO 281) or The Queen of Africa (White Hunter, black heart). We are talking about a movie that, ten years after its premiere, still holds a handful of records, some so bizarre as that of a pair of Italian vejetes that if I am right now, can boast of having seen a single movie Large screen 78 times. We refer to one of the last big media events in the history of cinema with The Matrix and torpor of the Rings. But while Matrix captivated mainly young people and the torpor it did with freaks pajilleros, Titanic expiring captivating to all kinds of public regardless of age, tastes or social status, but was initially targeted at a varied kind of mojabragas and slimy.

Titanic will, most probably, the last film we see stand in the way of a cinema followed six months or more, and the latter yielding the enormous bombardment that it generated media, to the point that I did not remember anything like it since the days Star Wars. The most grateful for this success is undoubtedly James Cameron. This former Canadian truck driver with a reputation for rockcod, perfectionist and son of a bitch, it was hard to take forward a project that almost nobody thought achievable because of the very high cost resulting in the massive infrastructure needed to put in place. Titanic became the first film in the history of Hollywood who united the resources of two "majors" (Fox and Paramount), and required years of advance planning on the part of the team that would work on it, including the design of innovative systems for underwater filming abyssal by Michael Cameron , The brother of James and, like him, a lover of the sea. The absorbent and complex production process would require the director of Terminator to postpone "indefinitely" a proposed remake of The Planet of the Apes starring one of his few friends in Mecca of cinema: Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Whether to launch the project Cameron had displayed one of his virtues most recognized (the cabezonería to any evidence), to put in place would show all the other: their desire for perfection led to a huge lift decorated - tracing the boat whose original construction, water tank inside the world's largest, were involved companies that had worked in the building of the Titanic itself between 1909 and 1912; even as the insignificant details of the davits holding the lifeboats, faithful reproduction of the original. All this, coupled with various and continuous delays, resulting in costs that were fired, honoring the fame of "manirroto" from the director. Finally, it turned out to be profitable Titanic would be, and long, the film Grossing more of the story. The pressure was felt in the "set", compounding the usual demands of Cameron (already very tough and demanding in the shooting and whether it is not to say Ed Harris) to players and technical team. Suffice it to say that both Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet swear by active and passive, nor drunkards would accept returning to work with such an ogre. The fears even extras such as the famous Spanish specialist Jordi Casares, after which wounded four times because of the excessive rigors taxes on production, does not hesitate to drop frogs and snakes on Cameron when someone has the audacity to remind you that nightmare .

While admitting that much of the success of Titanic was caused by a crippling promotional campaign, motivated by the fact that the film had to be a success yes or yes to avoid the ruin of their producers, nor can deny the virtues of a film that shines especially at the technical level. Oddly, that monster advertising campaign orchestrated to the rhythm of the horrendous "My heart will go on," perpetrated by a Celine Dion more pies than ever, has finally turned against a tape that over the years has lost much of its bellows. But when people on the basis of media bombardment and countless replacements on TV, ended up the hat of a platform that was known about memory, Titanic had become billionaires who had bet on it, and catapulted to a group of artists who In many cases, are still living off the proceeds of their participation in this pelotazo (case of Billy Zane, for example).

As for James Cameron, it goes without saying that the enormous effort and suffering were amply compensated. Become a kind of "new Spielberg", famous, respected and rich (as it was before, but after Titanic was even more), was able to lie down a good season to Bartolo, rising from it only to satisfy his passion for seas rolling in a series of documentaries on the Bismark and the Titanic (quite good, in fact), and occasionally to participate in TV series. The example of this man, who also took advantage of the Titanic beyond what is strictly film (which would be known to his fifth wife during the shoot), how is the tenacity of an iron and an infinite capacity for work, coupled with a rare ability to treat people like cattle, they can achieve impossible.

From Titanic may say many things, and not all very good, but Tito James surely respond with a criticism "there is therefore cocoons. The truth is, leaving aside the screenplay, written by Cameron in a plan "Juan Palomo" (produces, directs, writes, rides and no stars because surely did not give the wins), what remains is not exactly material for the garbage dump: it is visually spectacular (not to mention large screen), and the scene of the sinking, filmed in real time in almost 80 minutes of footage, is a masterful lesson that alone justifies seeing the film in a room movies. Maybe not 78 times as that nice pair of ancianitos Italians, but a couple as it did a server, which supports without blushing. I could hide behind the excuse that the story of the Titanic from a small always fascinated me, which is true. But I will not hide me I enjoyed myself at the movies (particularly the first time, amid a unique atmosphere) and that the tape I thought it was very entertaining. What I am going to do!. If it is, at heart, I too am a slimy and a baker.

Some interesting links:

* Details of the film in The Bible and FAQ opened here on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the premiere (todido in English, though). Some of the questions I reaffirm the belief that the bulk of the population of this planet is a jackass.

* Encycplopedia Titan. In English.

* Here is a curious article written by a ship's captain following the premiere of the film, in which some of disassembled myths relating to the history of the Titanic and its tragic journey.

* Articles in the Wikipedia: Here in Castilian, and here, a little more full as ever, in English.