The Language Limited Lovers of the RMS Titanic
Love At First Sight?
The first time we see Fabrizio and Helga is on boarding day in
Southampton. Fabrizio and Jack are trying to find their cabin
when they pass a small Norwegian family in one of the steerage
hallways. A man with a gray mustache is walking past followed
by an older woman with whitish blond hair wearing a shawl
followed by a young woman with blond hair pulled into a bun,
the younger woman is Helga, as she passes Fabrizio she turns
and smiles, he smiles back and they continue in opposite
directions.
Meeting Eachother
Helga and Fabrizio first meet on about the second day of Titanic’s
voyage. They are sitting on a bench in the steerage general room,
Helga’s parents are on the opposite side of the bench. Fabrizio asks
her if she knows any English “Italia no? Little English?”, she
responds by saying “No, Norska…. Norwegian only.” Then he
begins to teach her how to say his name “Fabrizio.” He sounds it
out for her, she struggles at the end and he finishes for her “E-oh.”
She giggles and finishes “E-oh.” Fabrizio chuckles and says “Si va
bene!” Then he asks for her name. She is confused at first and tilts
her head to the side, then, comprehending what he had asked she
nods her head and says “Helga.” They continue talking until Rose
comes down, after Rose and Jack leave Tommy and Fabrizio begin
to crack up, Helga giggles.
Steerage Dance
Later that day after their fist conversation they are dancing together at
the steerage party. Fabrizio asks Helga if he can put his hand on her
waist “Is okay to put my hand here?” he asks, she nods happily. They
dance wildly around the room gazing at eachother lovingly, when the
music ends they skip to a stop and they clap for the musicians,
Fabrizio shouts “Bravo! Bravo!” When the second song starts
Fabrizio helps Helga onto a platform where they dance, a few minutes
later he is helping her onto a different platform, they take a wild step
down and Fabrizio shouts “Yay!” He spins Helga, they spin faster and
faster, Fabrizio is laughing and shouting, Helga is giggling and
screaming. They link arms and go even faster, Fabrizio yells and Helga
screams “Wheee!” Then they switch directions, they are laughing
hysterically. When Jack and Rose do their dance Fabrizio and Helga
dance less wildly in the background and clap for Jack and Rose. Later
they are seen talking when Helga gets pulled into a conga line, she
says something that’s probably in Norwegian and grabs Fabrizio, she
smiles at him as they skip around, Fabrizio grabs Rose and shouts
“Good times!” Rose grabs Jack and they all dance around in a big
circle laughing and having a great time.
Separation
As soon as everyone down in steerage was told of the collision and sinking
Fabrizio and his friends were desperate to escape. As Fabrizio was about to
follow Jack, Rose, and Tommy he wanted Helga to come with him and he went
over to her and her parents. He said “Everyone, all of you, come with me now
we go to boats…we go to boats capito? Come now!” The Norwegians did not
budge, Olaf Dahl was not about to let his only daughter go with some Italian
boy she had just met, he shook his head and stood his ground. Fabrizio
turned to Helga “Helga, per favor, please, come with me, I am lucky, it is my
destiny to go to America, I go to America to be a millionaire.” He pleaded.
Helga turned to her father desperately, “Far?” she asked. Olaf Dahl was not
going to let her go, “Nei.” he said sternly. Helga looked at Fabrizio sadly and
said she was sorry and still loved him, they kissed and then parted. Fabrizio
and Helga looked sadly back at eachother, Fabrizio said “I will a’ never forget
you.” As he was dragged away by Jack and watched her sad face disappear
into the crowd of people. Olaf Dahl and Mrs. Dahl since they only spoke
Norwegian most likely misunderstood Fabrizio’s intentions, they probably
thought he was only going to take Helga and they didn’t want to be separated,
when in reality he was trying to take all of them. Also Mr. Dahl probably did not
know the severity of the situation since he lacked the ability to speak English
and many did not believe Titanic would actually sink.
Death or Survival?
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Many people believe that Fabrizio and Helga both died that horrible night of April 14th 1912 in
the frigid Northern Atlantic. However that is not necessarily true at all. First of all for everyone
who thinks Fabrizio was crushed by that smokestack, he was not, if you watch the scene is
slow motion you can clearly see that he is on the other side of the stack. In an older version of
the screenplay he was hit with Cal’s oar but that doesn’t prove he died and besides that
doesn’t matter because that screenplay obviously wasn’t used. Now Helga, people say she
died on impact but that is nearly impossible. It is inaccurate to think that because by the time
she should have/would have hit the water she is still heard frantically screaming meaning she
was alive in the water or still on the ship. When she fell from that rail it seemed like she would
have fallen into the piled up bodies which would have cushioned her fall, she almost looked
like she was in a sitting position so she could have suffered a broken tailbone and probably a
bit of whiplash. Anyway it seems like she probably clung to the rail by the fallen bodies lower
down on the ship or slid into the water, the deck that was split had already sank so the part of
the deck she would have slid down was smooth, she may have suffered a few bruises but it is
safe to say that she made it into the water alive. It is unknown if her parent’s survived their fall
from the rail or not but she could have found them in the water and they could have either
swam to a lifeboat or were rescued by one. So personally I believe it is possible that both
Helga and Fabrizio could have survived Titanic, perhaps even Helga’s parents. Now they do
appear in Jack and Rose’s end scene but it was only implied that it was Heaven, Cameron
never showed Helga or Fabrizio dead or dying and the end scene means nothing because
Cameron left it up to the audience to decide. Besides I saw a few people who looked like
survivors in that scene so Fabrizio and Helga could have lived. If they lived they would most
likely have gone on to get married and have children if Helga’s parents let her be with Fabrizio
once they got to America that is. Long story short the death theories and presumed fates of
Helga and Fabrizio are inaccurate so there is a possibility they survived.