Lessons learned from the Titanic disaster are still being applied at sea today, and the larger lesson about hubris in human endeavor has remained vivid for 100 years as well.
But it was one small moment this past weekend which galvanized our attention. We sat down Saturday evening to watch the TCM broadcast of A Night to Remember, the 1958 film about the sinking. (This movie, which we had not seen previously, is vastly superior to the sappy James Cameron - Leonardo DeCaprio - Kate Winslet blockbuster of 1997 which is currently in a trendy 3D re-release.)
The 1958 filmmakers quickly moved the story from the ship’s launching to the at-sea disaster, and as part of the depiction of the launch they incorporated a few seconds of original newsreel footage of the ship’s departure from Southampton.
A chill went down our spine.
We were looking at the people on board the Titanic, waving happily. We were not looking at Hollywood actors or extras, we were looking at the actual passengers on board the doomed ship.
More than 1500 of them would perish.
And yet there they were, in grainy, scratched images, giddily waving to us, 100 years later.
It was a powerfully moving few seconds of film.