Because for some, a tale about the crew members most people tend to overlook is a dozen times more compelling than a sappy love story.
"What is she compared to the sea?"
— Chief Engineer Joseph Bell
Take the oft-portrayed RMS Titanic tale, depict it in the point of view of crew members people mostly overlook in favour of Star-Crossed Lovers or affluent passengers, i.e. the engineering and boiler room crew, sprinkle it with drama and you'll end up with a film like this.
Narrated by Liam Cunningham and starring David Wilmot and Ciarán McMenamin, Saving The Titanic is a 2012 Irish-German Docudrama revolving around the efforts of the ill-fated ship's engineers and stokers at keeping the ship afloat for as long as she possibly could, buying passengers some time to board the lifeboats. Told In Medias Res, Leading Fireman Frederick Barrett (McMenamin) is summoned by the White Star Line to be part of an inquiry on the sinking, in hopes that the company would paint a rosy picture of what happened during that fateful night. This film is also notable for being more about a particular group of people on board (i.e. the aforementioned crew) than on the usual cast of characters typical of a Titanic drama.
The show provides examples of:
- Artistic License – History: Given how not much is known about the engineers and stokers' actions during the actual disaster, this was to be expected. The coal bunker fire theory popularised by Senan Molony and implied to be a major factor for the disaster in the film was thoroughly debunked by a number of Titanic scholars and enthusiasts such as YouTuber and White Star Line fan Spammals and the Titanic Honor and Glory dev team. The photographic blemish as seen in Titanic — The New Evidence could be dismissed as just that, a blemish, rather than a warped section of the hull indicating an Achilles' Heel which may have exacerbated things, if that was a contributing factor at all.
- Ascended Extra: Whilst the firemen, trimmers, and engineers were hardly even extras in Real Life for their valiant efforts, Saving The Titanic strove to give them justice and memorialise them as opposed to a few minutes of screen time in most portrayals.
- The Captain: While the closest Captain Smith comes to appearing in the film is via secondhand references to his orders, Chief Engineer Joseph Bell is effectively the captain of the Titanic's engineering crew. He even wears the same rank insignia as Captain Smith.
- Covers Always Lie: There were no waves or clouds at the night of the sinking.
- Damage Control: The entire focus of the film is the ship's engineers and stokers trying to delay or prevent the Titanic from sinking.
- Downer Ending: None of the engineering crew made it, and neither did the electricians survive the ordeal. A few firemen and trimmers did make it out alive, Barrett included.
- The Engineer: The film focuses on the Titanic's engineering crew and their efforts to keep the ship afloat and the emergency systems working long enough for help to arrive. Special attention is given to Joseph Bell, Titanic's Chief Engineer.
- Foregone Conclusion: The Titanic ultimately sinks, as history would tell you.
- The Ghost: It sure makes you wonder where Captain Smith, J. Bruce Ismay, and Molly Brown, let alone Jack Thayer or Harold Bride, were in the film. But that isn't what the story is about.
- Recurring Titanic figure Thomas Andrews does make appearances though, and with Smith sort of absent in the story, Engineer Bell became something of an Expy for the captain, like when Andrews informs him that the ship is a lost cause and must be abandoned by any means possible.
- Hope Spot: Barrett and the rest of the ship's stokers, firemen, and engineers manage to empty Boiler Room 6 of water. However, by then the water in Titanic's bow causes the compartment to flood, dooming the ship and rendering their efforts pointless.
- How We Got Here: The film starts in New York where Barrett is summoned to testify and recount his experiences on board.
- Mr. Exposition: A number of characters fill this role at various points, most notably:
- Frank Bell, apprentice at Harland and Wolff and son of Chief Engineer Joseph Bell, who explains the workings of Titanic's engines under quizzing from his father, and, in conjunction with Thomas Andrews, explains the functioning of the ship's watertight compartments.
- As in many Titanic retellings, Thomas Andrews is present to explain the catastrophic nature of the damage to the ship.
- Screw the Money, I Have Rules!: Disgusted at being Used All Along in exchange for being portrayed by White Star as "heroes", Barrett leaves the offices, while his colleague Paddy gleefully accepts the offer.
- Sinking Ship Scenario: The film is mainly set as the Titanic is sinking following her fatal collision with the iceberg.
- The Watson: Perhaps surprisingly, it is Chief Engineer Bell who largely fills this role, allowing the engineers and electricians serving under him to showcase their expertise. In one instance, he's seen asking a subordinate engineer about the number and capacity of the ship's pumps, which will be needed to keep Boiler Room 5 from flooding for as long as possible. In another scene, he orders the ship's electricians to provide power for the emergency systems, leaving it to them to work out - and explain for the audience's benefit - just how they can get enough steam pressure to run the generators.
