Review of The Truman Show (1998) by Brandon W — 22 Jul 2012

The Truman Show is not the smartest movie I've ever seen, in fact it tackles several themes and ideas its writer Andrew Niccol seems horribly ill equipped to deal with but there's something special and even eerily prophetic about its glimpse into a sordid future of reality television. Niccol wrote the script originally intending it to be a science fiction thriller, inspired by the idea of how we constantly question our lives and existence (an example in his own words being kids asking if they were adopted) but through rewrites it became more of an existential drama with comedy elements. Despite the fact Niccol was originally slated to direct as well, to make it a sort of prestige project Paramount sought out big name directors like Brian DePalma, Tim Burton and even Steven Spielberg to take up the helm. The project didn't garner too much interest it seems though and the man who ended up in the Director's chair was Peter Weir an Australian Noir Director from the 70s and 80s best known to American audiences for his late 80s hit The Dead Poets Society. Weir found the script to be to dark and encouraged Niccol to rewrite it even more and pushed back filming for a year to wait for his ideal star Jim Carrey allowing Niccol to rewrite the script 12 times and himself inventing back stories for all the supporting characters in Truman's world. Finally about a year later filming began in Seaside, Florida and without mostly without a hitch the only thing of interest in the production being it was at a time when studios were trying to switch to computer generated effects so there's a bit of a mix here between sets and pure CGI. The movie was met with high praise and modest box office success upon its release for being a smart and drily funny movie but its influence has been minimal at best, though after a string of psychiatric patients began believing their own lives were a reality show psychologists informally dubbed it "Truman Syndrome." So, does this deserve to be a revered classic? Or is it just a smart little romp that's mostly forgettable? Let's take a good morning look, and in case we don't see you a good afternoon, good evening and good night.

The central character of our film is one Truman Burbank (Jim Carrey), a thirty something insurance agent who lives a stale dissatisfying life in "Seahaven", Florida. He longs to adventure and go find the islands of Fiji but holds a horrible fear of the water in his island town after his father drowned in a sailing accident when he was very young. He's entered into a seemingly happy marriage with the perky and pushy Meryl (Laura Linney) and leads an almost idyllic seeming life hanging out on his down time with best friend Marlon (Noah Emmerich) but he remains despite his chipper facade a depressed and lonely man. He can't help but feel not in control of his whole life and pines for a strange girl he met and shared a few passionate moments on the beach with in college named either Lauren or Sylvia (Natascha McElhone) who was abruptly whisked away by a mysterious man despite her protests claiming she had schizophrenia. Things take a turn for the even weirder when he notices a stage light fall from the sky and almost hit him, discovers a radio frequency in which someone tracks his every move and happens upon his long drowned Dad on the streets before he's dragged off onto a bus by men in suits. What Truman's starting to suspect however we the audience already know, his entire life has been fabricated to make a reality TV show. Since he was a baby the result of an unwanted pregnancy he's been fostered in this imaginary town unknowingly by the shows pompous developer Christof (Ed Harris) who resides in a control room located where the giant sound stage is sun would be. Truman doesn't yet suspect the magnitude of his plight but he's determined to discover it and finally seize control of his life.

I had a lot of problems with this movie and probably chief among them that it's a bit ahead of its time and not as in cutting edge but as in premature. The idea is a rock solid one but in 1998 they just didn't have the technology to even fictionally if it were ethical pull something like this off and they're imagined technology they invent to conceivably make the show happen is kind of laughably dated even now. If they'd waited ten or even five years to pursue this story they might have made a more timeless film that could have lasted a bit longer in the public mind. But at the same time part of the movies greatness is how it railed on reality shows right as they were becoming big, I mean reality shows existed but their popularity has increased ten fold since the film's release making it a eerily prophetic criticism of the voyeurism and ultimate unfairness to the subjects contained in the idea of the shows. Fortunately we've never had a show this invasive but the film still tackles many questions about morality, privacy and whether we're better off with or without a choice in life. Personally if I were writing it I might have made the reveal of the shows creators and just how the show operates a twist as the scene where Christof feeds Marlon lines for an emotional confession to Truman feels like but it doesn't lessen the movie or even that scenes emotional impact and the intelligence of the script. It's not perfect story telling and after he attempts to escape the island the first time Truman's story feels a little rushed and like we're missing pieces of it but it's smart and has plenty of humor about its strange and unique world and the image of the bland values friendly 50s Florida town is great without garishly overdoing it. Not to mention the final confrontation between Truman and Christof is a climax of movie legends which effectively turns the film into a treatise of predestination and religion with Christof in the God position and Truman in the normal mans finally unchaining himself and leaving the cave to use a Plato allegory. Honestly some of the performances are forgettable though it is cool to see Paul Giamatti as a technician on the show and pre-Six Feet Under Peter Krause as Truman's Boss but Noah Emmerich and Ed Harris are both exceptional Emmerich mastering both sides of his actor playing a character and betraying a guilt at how they treat Truman underneath and Harris playing the self important artsy producer with much flair without being over the top. Jim Carrey of course steals the show however, in one of the first performances of his I've seen where he reigns it in and goes for emotional depth only going overboard with his cartoonish antics a few times, making this one of my favorite of his serious roles.

I think the biggest message and theme of this which Christof himself touts at one point is how we accept the realities of the world we're given. Plato once theorized that we were essentially all sitting in a cave somewhere and life as we know it is being flashed in front of us on the cave wall. Most people live their whole lives watching it but some can break free and see life as it really is. I think Plato meant this almost literally in a spiritual sense but the basic idea can soundly be carried over to today, most of us are born to an ordinary and mundane life and many and more are content to live it out and enjoy it for what it is while others wish to rise above it but are condemned by apathy and laziness. In some ways The Truman Show is a literal exploration of a man who's life is broadcast to the world 24/7 but it also functions as a moving metaphor were Truman wishes to elevate his life from the normal suburban trappings but can't and eventually through a tumultuous fight does and is free to finally explore Fiji, find the girl he loves and live a life he's in command of on an elevated level. It may not be as smart as it wants to be but any movie that can provide an effective meditation on all these things can't be but so bad. I love the Truman Show, it's not the best thing I've ever seen but it's more intelligent than a lot of things and can be watched over and over again even if the early parts before the big Christof "reveal" can grate a little on subsequent viewings.