Titanic's Tragic Twin: The Britannic Disaster

I thought this doc did a good job of telling a story I was completely unaware of. Some don't like the technique of have actors play historical figures, but I thought in this case it gave the story life. The dialogue was pulled from actual diary entries and letters. I completely enjoyed this film.

I never really sat down and delved into the sister ship of the Titanic, but I was vaguely familiar with the events that transpired with the Britannic. So when I happened to get the chance in 2021 to sit down to watch the 2016 documentary "Titanic's Tragic Twin: The Britannic Disaster", of course I did so right away.

This particular documentary was actually rather good, as it was enlightening, informative and very watchable. I was going to say entertainment, but that would be a tasteless word to use for a documentary about such a horrible accident.

"Titanic's Tragic Twin: The Britannic Disaster" tells the tale of the tragedy that befell the Britannic about her sinking and the tragic loss of life. And it does so from both a historical aspects, where facts are presented, but also doing it with the recounts of personal experiences of those surviving the disaster - being retold by the descendants of these people, of course.

Not only does the narrative have a good flow to it, and the information stream served is in chronological order, but it is also assisted by a myriad of interesting visuals, ranging from old photos to CGI rendering. So that definitely helped to sell the documentary in a most fulfilling manner.

This 2016 documentary is one that I can warmly recommend you sit down to watch if you have an interest in naval tragedy or the Britannic itself. My rating of "Titanic's Tragic Twin: The Britannic Disaster" lands on a six out of ten stars.

As docu films go this falls short in comparison to most successful shows. Too many scenes with personnel and dialogue building "hype" and drama. Much prefer voiceovers on documentaries like Ken Burns films which are dedicated to facts and not the personalities hosting the show.

Since the story of the "Britannic"' is far less known than her sister ship, this is a worth a watch. It's not a bad compilation of facts and reenactments. It would have been less distracting with a voiceover narration, rather than following the host around as she interviews people (a bit too enthusiastically considering the subject matter, IMO, but it's well-intentioned.) The brave souls aboard Britannic deserve to be remembered too, and this doc fills the bill.

I love documentaries, but this could have done to be more straightforward. A lot of melodramatic retellings. The information was great and interesting. I just didn't care for the presentation.