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9.4/10
FilmFascination Rating
“The Truman Show” is that cinematic experience-a movie so close to perfection that it seems a shame to spoil it by even reading a review beforehand. You would have to be living in a cave for you to not have any idea about ‘The Truman Show’. But if by some miracle you have no idea about it, I would request you to stop reading at this very moment and not to go any further. One of the very enjoyable things about watching the movie was me wondering, having little doubts, and trying to figure out what exactly was going on. This happened because, I did not have the knowledge about this little secret the movie had. So do not even watch the trailer, rather just go and enjoy the movie.
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I hope the people I mentioned have left till now.
The movie starts with Truman happily greeting his neighbours and everything seems so perfect. May it be his wife, or his interactions with the newspaper guy. You tend to ask yourself, is this all-real life. Who has such dramatic interactions in their everyday life, isn’t it? And if it is real life, something does not feel right. Burbank is actually the star of a reality television program filmed 24/7 through thousands of hidden cameras with a worldwide audience. And what is so special or real about this show? Burbank is. He thinks he is living an ordinary life, but everyone other than him are actually actors. His hometown of Seahaven Island is actually a complete set built within an enormous dome, populated by crew members and actors.
I mean imagine, everything around you being planned since your birth. May it be your best friend or even as intimate things as your lover. Everything is just arranged by another person for things to go as they think they should. I understand why all the actors in the show are so artificial with their emotions, but what about Truman? Why does he act like that? The answer is simple as the filmmakers suggest- you accept the world you’re given. More thoughtful viewers will get the hidden message. I mean when was the last time you thought about why exactly a thing is the way it is? We accept almost everything in our lives without examining it very closely.
Andrew Niccol (screenwriter) stated, “I think everyone questions the authenticity of their lives at certain points”. The overall look of the film was influenced by television images, particularly commercials: Many shots have characters leaning into the lens with their eyes wide open, and the interior scenes are heavily lit because Weir (director) wanted to remind viewers that “in this world, everything was for sale”. The camera angles and the shots are cleverly captured to give the feeling of a show actually being shot.
A series of technical glitches, including a miscued radio signal in his car communicating about Truman’s movements in the city and an unscheduled appearance from his long-thought-to-be-drowned dad, has innocent and extremely affable Truman gradually discovering the truth surrounding his life. You really do feel his struggle. Whom can you trust in such a situation? Your wife? Or your best friend who so casually tells about ‘lying to you‘ is the last thing he would do, which actually is just a dialogue created by the show’s creator, the ultimate Svengali, Christof. Christof is played with ultimate expertise by Ed Harris. The scene in which he artistically creates those beautiful moments of Truman meeting his father is truly amazing to watch. Performances by both Laura Linney (Hannah Gill in the movie) and Noah Emmerich (Marlon) fit in very well with the movie.
It is exciting but at the same time very sad to see how Truman is manipulated by Christof and his crew of actors. To be sure, the movie has plenty of laughs, but like sunlight on the deceptively calm surface of the sea, the humor just tries to hide what is coming. Truman starts to become sick of this creepy plastic paradise, where even in a serious situation all his wife can think about is about sponsoring that cocoa powder on the show. He feels that finding his long-lost high school sweetheart (Sylvia), who, he has been told, spirited away to Fiji, is the only way of escaping this horrid world. Sylvia is the only actor in the show crew who thinks Truman should be freed from this constricted world of pretentious fake people.
“The Truman Show” is an emotion-filled movie. Especially because of Jim Carrey. He is very natural in his acting and in fact intensifies ordinary emotions so powerfully that you feel every bit of it. “The Truman Show” is proof that Carrey, who had mostly appeared in screwball comedies, can pull off a dramatic role and he went on to win a Golden Globe for Best Actor for his work in the film.
There are many beautiful things in the film and absolutely nothing to not like about it. We see ourselves in Truman who, is struggling to find his bearings in an alien world. And we also see ourselves in the TV fans who avidly watch him around the clock, filling a void in their own lives. The Truman Show explores alienation, existentialism, privacy, reality television and actual relationships in this world which only runs behind fulfilling their selfish needs.
In the first viewing I found it very exciting to go through those little doubts and finally understand the little secret of the movie. While on the second viewing, it gets even more enjoyable, after knowing everything already.
Favourite Quotes
Truman: Good morning, and in case I don’t see ya, good afternoon, good evening, and good night!
Christof: Talk to me. Say something. Well, say something, goddamn it. You’re on television. You’re live to the whole world.
Truman Burbank: In case I don’t see you… good afternoon, good evening, and good night. Yeah!
Truman Burbank: [observes Sylvia wearing a pin reading “How’s it going to end?”] I like your pin. I was wondering that myself.
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