THE STORY – Titan: The OceanGate Disaster examines CEO Stockton Rush’s quest to become the next billionaire innovator and the doomed underwater endeavor that called into question the price of ambition in the depths of the ocean.
THE CAST – N/A
THE TEAM – Mark Monroe (Director/Writer)
THE RUNNING TIME – 111 Minutes
Everyone who is critically online knows what happened on June 18th, 2023, when a commercial submersible, otherwise known as Titan, that was descending to the shipwreck of Titanic had gone missing. Much like the wreck itself, this story gained international news. There were thousands of news articles, TikToks, and tweets about the missing submersible, its passengers, and theories as to what was occurring. The news stations even had an oxygen countdown documenting how much air was left in the submersible. But on June 22nd, debris from Titan was found, and the most logical explanation was confirmed: the submersible imploded, killing all five passengers, Titanic expert Paul-Henri Nargeolet, Hamish Harding, Shahzada and Suleman Dawood, and OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush, instantly. This confirmation led to an international investigation of how this happened and what went wrong, which is brilliantly explained in full detail in Mark Monroe’s Netflix documentary, “Titan: The OceanGate Disaster.”
Monroe seeks to explain almost every detail that led up to the implosion, which provides his audience with a general understanding of the engineering, science, legality, and finances involved in creating a submersible. Many talking heads of former OceanGate employees are featured, from David Lochridge (the original Director of Marine Operations), Tony Nissen (the original Director of Engineering), and Emily Hammermeister (Assistant to OceanGate Lead Engineer) to provide accurate and detailed information about their time at the company. All of whom were either fired or quit due to disagreeing with the CEO, Stockton Rush. All three individuals and historians make one thing very clear: Stockton was a salesman and very instant on being the first person to make a submersible with a carbon-fiber hull.
Audiences quickly learn that this is the fundamental error. With animation and actual footage of Stockton and his team testing and building the submersible, it is clear that carbon fiber is the wrong element. But according to Nissen, it’s lighter, cheaper, and has never been used before. This was all attractive to Stockton, who wanted to be the next Elon Musk. Still, it also meant it cost less money (meaning he could mass produce Titan easier) and was easier to move (one needs to lift this submersible out of the ocean and secure it somewhere in the off-season). But, through the footage, some tracing back to as late as 2018, the material was failing. It is shown earlier in the process that OceanGate created a test and mechanism to detect individual strands of carbon fiber breaking into predict failure. The test was effective (and later ignored), showcasing how Titan became a ticking time bomb.
It seems as if we learn everything: the original plans for Titan, the business partnerships that fell through, the many tests it failed, and the many guidelines Stockton ignored or refused to engage in (including refusing to certify or ‘class’ Titan). It’s clear that Stockton is Monroe’s villain by showcasing his determination to be renowned as a ‘Great.’ He was referred to as a humble human being but an arrogant scientist who would fire anyone who expressed concern about the safety of the submersible (Lochridge being the first). He says these concerns are criticisms of himself as an individual; it’s evident through the film that Stockton was determined to get Titan to Titanic no matter what.
Monroe covers a lot within the almost two-hour film, from the conception of OceanGate to its final dive. He also constantly cuts from the found footage of the time spent at OceanGate headquarters to the U.S. Coast Guard’s Marine Board of Investigation. This presents “Titan: The OceanGate Disaster” as a mix of true crime and cautionary tale drama. This makes it a compelling documentary for those interested in the subject. Still, it will also require its audience to jump back and forth between several time periods of the film.
“If you hear an alarm, don’t worry about it,” is what Stockton says to a group of paying customers in Titan before it descends at the beginning of the film. But we all know that it is something to worry about, and Monroe shows us exactly why at an accessible level (one doesn’t need an engineering degree to understand the science explained here!). In the end, Nissen hits the nail right on the head the science doesn’t kill people. “Culture kills people,” which brings us right back to the reason all of this happened: Titanic. The cause of the tragedy of Titanic wasn’t the ship itself; it was the human error that caused her to sink: the arrogance of wealthy men. As a result of said arrogance (resulting in the ignorance of warnings) and the need to be determined as great, 1,500 people died who shouldn’t have. And then 111 years later, the exact same lessons refused to be learned from the people who claimed to love the ship so much, which resulted in five more unnecessary deaths.
