The Truman Show
The Truman Show
Every second of every day, from the moment he was born, for the last thirty years, Truman Burbank has been the unwitting star of the longest running, most popular documentary-soap opera in history. The picture-perfect town of Seahaven that he calls home is actually a gigantic soundstage. Truman's friends and family - everyone he meets, in fact - are actors. He lives every moment under the unblinking gaze of thousands of hidden TV cameras.
匚卂尺ㄥ reviewedFebruary 7, 2025
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"We accept the reality of the world which we are presented. It's as simple as that."
One film that left a massive impact on me from the first time I saw it up until today when I revisited was 1998's "The Truman Show," a film that predated and somehow predicted the reality TV era of society. Based on a script written by Andrew Nicole and directed by the great Peter Weir, it explores a world where someone's life can be aired as a 24/7 TV show for everyone to watch especially when that person's world is fake and who better to follow than one Truman Burbank. Jim Carrey is an absolute revelation in this film as a man who seeks and desires excitement and wonder in a very mundane existence, and when it's revealed to him that his life as he knows it is a stage production it leads to him putting more cracks into his reality.
Weir is a director who deserves way more credit than he seems to get with films such as "Dead Poets Society," "Master and Commander: Far Side of the World," and "Picnic at Hanging Rock" but this is his masterwork. This film has a pace that flies by and never seems to slow down for unimportant reasons, while the production design is that of a sound stage built to be this town occupied by many of the extras on set. The camera work here is stellar as it acts as surveillance on Truman's ever move which is led by that of director Christof, and Ed Harris delivers a Big Brother inspired villain who has controlled the life of this man since his birth and feels that he knows what's best for Truman. This has some of my favorite cinematography ever as it's made to look like a live broadcast yet is very colorful and vibrant, contrasting with the dark tone of the film's story.
25 years after its release, the various themes and messages of the film still resonate as our current age of live streams and social media make ordinary people feel as if they're making their own reality TV show. In addition, the film feels like a real wake-up call to people in society of the dangers of simply accepting the status quo of the world and to always be willing to question your understanding of things around you which is more relevant today than ever. The phrase "How's it going to end?" seems like a way to ask the viewer if they will determine who their own life journey concludes or leave that in the hands of others, and it really allows us to reflect on if we're living the life we choose. The final moments of the film is one of the most triumphant conclusions to a film I've ever had because it's seeing someone willing to go into the unknown, going against the created existence, and being okay with the dangers of what's out there.