Just a few years ago it wouldn't have been feasible to have made this documentary. Through the wonders of CGI we can see the Belfast skyline as it was in 1907 and even a street with tramcars running along it. The recreation of the ship does vary a bit though. Largely because of out of scale water in some scenes the ship looks like a model. But the scene where she is being towed out for her sea trial and the tugs cast off their cables is incredibly realistic. The actors bear a closer likeness to their real life counterparts than in James Cameron's film except for Captain Smith. Alan Rothwell is a bit too short but on the other hand Bernard Hill made him sound too scouse. The documentary pulls no punches about how tough life was for ordinary people in the early 20th century and also that it was long before health and safety at work. It also depicts the sectarianism that has blighted Northern Ireland almost up to the present time. It's not just a documentary about the history of Titanic, it's a social documentary.
Review of Titanic: Birth of a Legend
Titanic: Birth of a Legend
(2005 TV Movie)
The best dramatised documentary I have so far seen
27 February 2007