Who would have thought that the rubber faced wildman from In Living Color would become an accomplished actor? While not crazy about Ace Ventura, I thoroughly enjoyed Jim Carrey in The Mask. I even appreciated the dark turn he took in The Cable Guy. But it was his part as Truman Burbank in The Truman Show that caused me to truly respect Jim Carrey's talent.
With a superb screenplay, excellent cinematography and a top-notch supporting cast, The Truman Show comes in as #8 in my series of The 15 Best Movies Ever
Truman is one of those films that I can watch again and again, always picking up on something that I had not noticed before. Warning: Spoilers!
Truman's life has been a staged television program from the day he was born. Starting with just one camera (hanging on his crib), the world watched as Truman rolled over, napped and said his first words. They watched as he crawled and then took his first steps. Adding more cameras to his world as he got older, the creator of the show, Christof (played with god-like assurance by Ed Harris), expanded the set and hired more actors to make Truman's world entirely believable to Truman. Because of the success of the show, Christof ended up building an enclosed studio so enormous that it could be seen from outer space with thousands of cameras that would track Truman's every move. Still, Truman remained clueless as to what was going on around him. Until one day...
The Truman Show is story of one man's rebirth, a theme that I continue to spot in many films. Regeneration, rebirth and resurrection are so deeply woven into our subconcious that the story retells itself again and again in so many different ways. In Truman it is quite obvious.
Things are not as they seem. The world in which Truman lives is a lie, carefully crafted and fabricated to deceive him. The bottom line? It's all about money. Products are carefully placed throughout Truman's day in order for the program to receive advertising dollars. Christof manipulates Truman's world in order to achieve selfish results. Ultimately he ends up causing a threat to Truman's life in order to keep him an unwitting captive.
But the human spirit and yearning to be free rises above the challenges. Truman is in search of truth, love and liberty. Reality is questioned and Truman's persistence is rewarded. In the end, we can only assume that he finds it, as the deciever is unmasked.
There is much more in The Truman Show than I can discuss here. If you haven't seen it, it is one to own for your collection. If you have seen it, I recommend watching it again.
Incidently, the story is not entirely original as I recently found out. Science Fiction writer Philip K. Dick penned a short novel in the nineteen-sixties called Time Out of Joint. Dick clearly deserves his props for being the inspiration for Truman. Nonetheless, the movie is a triumph and one to be enjoyed by all ages.
I love this movie. Just to let you in on something, you are "truman" and we are all watching you everyday. You need to escape.