Great idea to show the crew's efforts to keep Titanic afloat, but poor execution. Anyone who has done any detailed research of the testimony of that night would see fairly quickly that there wasn't much research done for this documentary. Names of people are correct, and the actors do look like their characters, but this film makes too much up and only bares superficial resemblance to real events. Spoilers follow.
The first scene insults the crew of Titanic. Fred Barret is in front of an inquiry that seems to be desperately looking to rewrite history so that the engineers are made to be heroes. Not only did this not happen, and it contradicts the whole thesis of the film, the scene is a result of bad writing, just to try to insert the point that the Engineers and firemen might not be heroes simply because they died or survived.
The first half consists of entirely made up scenes meant to show how Titanic was called unsinkable, that there were probable tensions between a new crew and that there was a coal fire. The Irish religious divide is overplayed. Normally, invented exposition scenes would not be a problem, but the film does not even try to take advantage of actual primary sources to color this. Instead we are forced to sit through quiet scenes, and a purely invented conflict between Fred Barret and Chief Bell instead of actually getting to the important stuff, which there is less and less time for. There is only 1 exception (for approximately 1 minute) when some actual letters are read from the engineers.
The 2nd half is where the inaccuracies truly show. There is a clock throughout showing what time things happened which you are just going to have to ignore while watching this. It notes for example that they started inserting the pumps & emptying boilers an hour after they actually did. It also shows Fred Barret down below emptying dampers when in reality he had already left and was probably on Lifeboat 13 already. The scene where Barret pins Bell to a wall with a knife is pure fantasy as is the ending.
Many important things are omitted. Just after the collision, Chief Bell was on the Boat Deck and had a conversation with Ismay where he convinced him the pumps would keep the ship afloat. This is not even hinted at in the film and contradicted by it. We see Andrews talk to Bell but not the Captain. The distress signal the film claims is the 1st one is wrong. The rockets shoot from the wrong place. Much testimony from survivors like Lawrence Beesley shows the ship kept moving after the collision, stopped, started again at dead slow and finally stopped forever; this is not shown. The firemen were emptying dampers and engineers were using pumps long before Lifeboat 7 was lowered. By approximately 1:00, just after the 1st lifeboat left, it was already too late to save the ship and Boiler Room 6&5 were flooded.
In reality, we are not sure if the Coal Bunker Fire contributed to the disaster and recently, doubt has been cast as to whether it was between Boiler Room 5 & 6 or 6 & the Fireman's Passage. One author has suggested that the grounding of Titanic damaged Boiler Room 6 and 4 but not 5, and not fatally. Thomas Dillon (in the film) noted flooding in Boiler Room 4 (not in the film). Edward Wilding, Harland and Wolff's design representative, testified that the initial damage to Titanic was not enough to sink it. The pumps may have failed and flooded Boiler Room 5, or the bulkhead may have broke (neither are in the film). How Barret survived is also depicted incorrectly. Soon after Shepherd broke his leg, water rushed in from between boilers. Harvey ordered Barret out of the Boiler Room on deck, and all of the engineers there died behind him. This is not even showed.
The film gets some things right. Just after the collision, the lights went dark and were turned back on just when Barrett got the oil lamps. A red light did inform Barret that something was amiss. Alfred White was sent up to investigate. Jonathan Shepherd did break his leg in a manhole, but the Boiler Room was dry when he did it, and the Titanic struck an iceberg. But the numerous mistakes ruin the film. There were also little things I expected to see but didn't. One example, we know Engineer Alfred White (in the film) did brew some coffee in the Engine Room while the Firemen were working; this is not shown. We know Fred Scott freed a trapped crewman in the propeller shaft room, but that's not in the film. We know a lot about what Asst 2nd Engineer Hesketh did, but he's not in the film. I also expected to see the crew help with the lifeboats, and Fred Barret helping to save Lifeboat 13 but that wasn't in the film (the latter is shown briefly in James Cameron's movie).
I'm giving this 4 stars for the idea, the acting, the sets, cinematography, and some technical details which might be the only thing they actually researched. Read A Night to Remember, Barret's British inquiry testimony (as well as other crew members) or David G Brown's new book Titanic Myths, Titanic Truths to get a better idea of what happened down below that night. The sloppy research of this film becomes an insult to the memory of those that died. I find it frustrating that there was so much testimony that could have been used despite all of the engineers dying--that of the firemen, trimmers and greasers who saw them & survived--to reenact so many events the film wants to depict but doesn't.
The first scene insults the crew of Titanic. Fred Barret is in front of an inquiry that seems to be desperately looking to rewrite history so that the engineers are made to be heroes. Not only did this not happen, and it contradicts the whole thesis of the film, the scene is a result of bad writing, just to try to insert the point that the Engineers and firemen might not be heroes simply because they died or survived.
The first half consists of entirely made up scenes meant to show how Titanic was called unsinkable, that there were probable tensions between a new crew and that there was a coal fire. The Irish religious divide is overplayed. Normally, invented exposition scenes would not be a problem, but the film does not even try to take advantage of actual primary sources to color this. Instead we are forced to sit through quiet scenes, and a purely invented conflict between Fred Barret and Chief Bell instead of actually getting to the important stuff, which there is less and less time for. There is only 1 exception (for approximately 1 minute) when some actual letters are read from the engineers.
The 2nd half is where the inaccuracies truly show. There is a clock throughout showing what time things happened which you are just going to have to ignore while watching this. It notes for example that they started inserting the pumps & emptying boilers an hour after they actually did. It also shows Fred Barret down below emptying dampers when in reality he had already left and was probably on Lifeboat 13 already. The scene where Barret pins Bell to a wall with a knife is pure fantasy as is the ending.
Many important things are omitted. Just after the collision, Chief Bell was on the Boat Deck and had a conversation with Ismay where he convinced him the pumps would keep the ship afloat. This is not even hinted at in the film and contradicted by it. We see Andrews talk to Bell but not the Captain. The distress signal the film claims is the 1st one is wrong. The rockets shoot from the wrong place. Much testimony from survivors like Lawrence Beesley shows the ship kept moving after the collision, stopped, started again at dead slow and finally stopped forever; this is not shown. The firemen were emptying dampers and engineers were using pumps long before Lifeboat 7 was lowered. By approximately 1:00, just after the 1st lifeboat left, it was already too late to save the ship and Boiler Room 6&5 were flooded.
In reality, we are not sure if the Coal Bunker Fire contributed to the disaster and recently, doubt has been cast as to whether it was between Boiler Room 5 & 6 or 6 & the Fireman's Passage. One author has suggested that the grounding of Titanic damaged Boiler Room 6 and 4 but not 5, and not fatally. Thomas Dillon (in the film) noted flooding in Boiler Room 4 (not in the film). Edward Wilding, Harland and Wolff's design representative, testified that the initial damage to Titanic was not enough to sink it. The pumps may have failed and flooded Boiler Room 5, or the bulkhead may have broke (neither are in the film). How Barret survived is also depicted incorrectly. Soon after Shepherd broke his leg, water rushed in from between boilers. Harvey ordered Barret out of the Boiler Room on deck, and all of the engineers there died behind him. This is not even showed.
The film gets some things right. Just after the collision, the lights went dark and were turned back on just when Barrett got the oil lamps. A red light did inform Barret that something was amiss. Alfred White was sent up to investigate. Jonathan Shepherd did break his leg in a manhole, but the Boiler Room was dry when he did it, and the Titanic struck an iceberg. But the numerous mistakes ruin the film. There were also little things I expected to see but didn't. One example, we know Engineer Alfred White (in the film) did brew some coffee in the Engine Room while the Firemen were working; this is not shown. We know Fred Scott freed a trapped crewman in the propeller shaft room, but that's not in the film. We know a lot about what Asst 2nd Engineer Hesketh did, but he's not in the film. I also expected to see the crew help with the lifeboats, and Fred Barret helping to save Lifeboat 13 but that wasn't in the film (the latter is shown briefly in James Cameron's movie).
I'm giving this 4 stars for the idea, the acting, the sets, cinematography, and some technical details which might be the only thing they actually researched. Read A Night to Remember, Barret's British inquiry testimony (as well as other crew members) or David G Brown's new book Titanic Myths, Titanic Truths to get a better idea of what happened down below that night. The sloppy research of this film becomes an insult to the memory of those that died. I find it frustrating that there was so much testimony that could have been used despite all of the engineers dying--that of the firemen, trimmers and greasers who saw them & survived--to reenact so many events the film wants to depict but doesn't.