Many believed Titanic, the most expensive film ever made, would sink like its namesake. But it hasn’t. Its combination of disaster and romance has captured a huge audience world wide. It’s the movie about which everyone is talking. I saw it with a male friend who commented immediately after, “Gee, it makes you love your wife, doesn’t it?” I agreed.

I came out of it having seen in Jack’s (Leonardo Di Caprio) love for Rose (Kate Winslett) a model of the kind of self-sacrificial love that Paul calls husbands to have for their wives. Yes, Rose may have been engaged and there was the sexual activity. However, Jack’s act of dying for his lover wonderfully embodied Jesus’ pronouncement in John’s Gospel re: the appropriateness of laying down one’s life for one’s friends, while also displaying the kind of love Jesus showed for humanity on the Cross. When we see the aged Rose’s photo collection we know that she went on to live life to the full through the influence of Jack’s spirit and sacrifice. The final “heaven” scene, where Rose returns to her prime after death and meets the other “vanquished righteous” in the Titanic’s ballroom presents an excellent figure for the resurrection.

The elderly Rose’s pronouncement at the end of the film that Jack saved her in every possible way presents a number of opportunities. One is to use her understanding of Jack’s ability to save even through his death as a figure for the way Christ can save us through his death. Her understanding that salvation is more than just having her physical life saved, that it is also about how she was able to live in the aftermath of Titanic. Her comment shows an understanding that the depth of human life goes way beyond its physical manifestation.

Alternately, the inverse view of Rose’s pronouncement can be used. One can point out that true, holistic salvation cannot be carried out by another person; no human effort can achieve for us what Christ has achieved for us in providing direct, eternal relationship with the Creator.

Humanistic themes come to the fore in other scenes that can also form points for discussion. Twice during the series of scenes that portrayed Titanic’s eventual vertical plunge into the depths, those attempting to bring God into this most horrific of scenarios are subtly made to appear quite foolish. Firstly, Jack is leading Rose up the almost 90 degree ship before its cataclysmic dive. In his path is a man reciting Psalm 23. As the man speaks the words, “though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death…”, Jack mockingly asks him if he could “walk” a little faster through that valley so he and Rose can reach the ship’s nigh vertical bow.

Secondly, as we’ve just seen the pair rush to their chosen position to face the ship’s collapse, we see a group of people on their knees receiving the last rites from an emotionally shaken Catholic priest.

The first incident was clearly intended for comic relief. However, it also makes the audience feel that the person reciting the Psalm is a fool, acting inappropriately in the situation. It could be argued, from a Christian perspective, that he was doing the only appropriate thing by trying to bring his faith into the situation. However, we sense that our heroes are doing the right thing, pushing on with their efforts to save themselves rather than asking for divine assistance or attempting to accede to God’s will.

The second incident also diminishes the idea that we should rely on God for our salvation. Those people praying with the priest are the only ones stagnant while the rest battle their way up the ship, they seem anachronistic and it seems clear that their behavior is not seen as the right course of action in the circumstances. This scene provides a figure for the way relying on God is seen by the world as a poor second to the values of self-reliance and self-sufficiency.

PM

Reproduced courtesy of “Shoot the messenger” website http://www.shootthemessenger.com.au. The site is worth a visit.