On one hand it does, but on the other, it doesn't.
If you look at the movie from a historical perspective, we can see what people might have behaved like in the actual event when Titanic sank. The movie portrays their thoughts, emotions, and behaviors during that horrible night, so if you think about it that way, I guess we can understand the event more. On the other hand though, the movie included a love story which is not really relevant to what actually happened in history, so it doesn't really help the viewer think about history much.