Andrew, the writer of most marvelous prose, over at Encore Entertainment recently hit on an incredible idea for blog-a-thon regarding our favorite movie scenes in the rain since scenes in the rain really are a significant staple of the cinema. Why is this? (I should note before I go any further that my native state of Iowa is currently in the midst of approximately its 17th 100 year flood in the last 5 years and so I know that rain can also symbolize direness and the wrath of that "happy-go-lucky" God of ours and so on and so forth and so please know, fellow Iowans, that I do not mean to belittle your plight. My heart is with you. You know it is.)
Viewers lost it at many different points during James Cameron's landmark 1997 opus "Titanic" (at least the viewers who enjoyed that film which is to say the viewers who actually have souls) since it is not an easy movie to watch when considering its primary topic is, you know, the sinking of the Titanic. But the scene that most got me....
It's after the ship has sunk and after Rose DeWitt Bukater (Kate) has let go of Jack Dawson (Leo) by promising that she'll never let go and she hitches the ride on the Carpathia and the Carpathia is coming through New York Harbor and she's looking up at the Statue Of Liberty-
(Note: If you're one of those people who now wants to point out that the Statue Of Liberty would not have been lit up in 1912 or that Rose would not have been able to see it from that vantage point because the ship could not get that close to the island or whatever other inaccuracies you want to point out, well, I don't want to hear it. Okay? I DON'T EFFING WANT TO HEAR IT. Go back to reading your book about the invention of the cotton gin or whatever it is you un-romantics do.)
-and that soft rain is falling on her, cleansing her, washing away the atrocities her young eyes have been made to witness and her suffocating personal history, all of it, all these sins getting rinsed away by this divine drizzle, and then that guy comes up to her and asks "Can I take your name please, love?" and she looks at him and Kate - as only Kate Winslet can - doesn't go for any over-affections, she doesn't put any spin on her face or on her words, she doesn't try to sell it because she's smart enough to know she doesn't have to because the moment itself is bigger than any of that and she just replies "Dawson - Rose Dawson" and that's when I lost it. I had to burrow down in my seat in the pitiful hope that no one around me would hear my sniffles.
There have been many film "scholars" who have compared Cameron Crowe's "Say Anything" to "Titanic" for, oddly, having many of the same plot points, if you look closely. But those "scholars" actually fail to grasp the most apt and critical likeness. "The rain on the car is a baptism," John Cusack's Lloyd Dobler said into his trusty tape recorder. "The new me. Ice Man. Power Lloyd. My assault on the world begins now."
The rain on Rose DeWitt Bukater in New York Harbor is a baptism. The new her. Rocket Queen. Rose Dawson. Her assault on the world began right then.
Friday, August 20, 2010
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6 comments:
Great scene, love this writeup...it's the first one I've read and I love it. This scene ends up being forgotten but I do love it and all the points you bring up. As you know I forgive any faults with Titanic because I love it too, so no complaints about inaccuracies from me.
Uh, Nick, props to "Titanic" and all, but you've apparently forgotten the tour-de-force that is 1998's "Godzilla." There were at least four powerful in-the-rain scenes which dwarf James Cameron's attempt to ride Emmerich's coat tails.
Great scene with the majestic soundtrack blaring, I probably was moved near tears, I don't really remember. It was 10 years ago after all.
Clearly you never saw 9 1/2 Weeks.
I didn't even remember this had rain in it!
Awesome post.
Wretched Genius: LOL now I wanna watch Kim again.
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