One of the most powerful films of all time is available to stream on Netflix – and the intensity of its images has not diminished even after decades.
Titanic is an unforgettable masterpiece from director James Cameron, which was the most successful film of all time from 1997 to 2009. And for good reason: the desperate struggle for survival of the passengers gets under your skin. You can stream the moving epic right now with a Netflix subscription.
Masterpiece alert on Netflix: This is what Titanic is about
Against the backdrop of a tragic shipwreck, two destinies collide that could not be more different: Rose (Kate Winslet), who lives a life in a gilded cage, and the artistically talented free spirit Jack (Leonardo DiCaprio), who happens to board the luxury liner Titanic. An encounter that will change both of their lives.
While the young couple inside the massive ship rebel against a cruel class system, the real danger lurks outside in the Atlantic. Without knowing it, the crew of the Titanic is heading straight for an iceberg – and thus into a fight for life and death.
Watch another Titanic trailer here:
On board the Titanic, one catastrophe follows another
Titanic performs the miracle of confronting its audience with a new detail at every reunion, a detail that was previously lost in the exuberant flood of images. Because if you let yourself in for the experience, you get not just one, but three films on an emotional level.
It begins with a light-hearted romance between Rose and Jack. They discuss art, compete in tap-dancing contests and break into cars. Just your typical first love. But anyone who thinks they’ll spend hours watching the main characters sweep euphorically along the decks is in for a big surprise.
Drama is not long in coming, as the social corset of 1912 is tightly laced and the kind of love that arises here is simply not intended in the small-minded cosmos of the class system. As if that weren’t enough, a deadly danger lurks in the Atlantic, inevitably heralding the action sequence of the journey.
Gripping images pull you into the depths of Titanic
What James Cameron achieves in his epic is to point out that it is neither the force of nature nor the lack of lifeboats that lead to the travelers’ fatal demise – but human error, their prejudices and their selfishness.
He skillfully combines a seemingly light love story with relentless drama and hard-hitting action. Titanic has a clear message – and finds extremely stirring images for it.
You suddenly find yourself swimming in flooded corridors, with flickering lights and people who are panicking. This feeling is easily transferred to the audience, for whom there is also no escape. At least emotionally.
We experience the sinking of the alleged ship of dreams up close, which on the screen becomes a nightmare in the icy waters of the Atlantic. Rarely has a visual narrative managed to captivate its audience in a similar way – and that is why it has more than earned its reputation as the most successful film in cinema history in the meantime.
