I saw this one in the theatre back in the day. Thinking back I realize that I did not understand the deepest meanings of the story then. Much wiser and having a developed philosophical insight now, the apparent superficial story is a screen for multiple layers of deeper understandings that you will only get if you are really outside the "matrix" (to reference another likewise analogy for the same theme) in the first place.
Truman Burbank (Jim Carrey) lives a predictable Mr. Anybody's life. His day seem to be a infinite string of repetition and conformity. His surroundings act the same way and basically makes sure that he stays within this physical and emotionally confined life. He has a standard house, a standard pretty blond wife, a standard anonymous job .... he basically is not an individual, but a shell over nonexistence.
The first incident that starts the waking up of Truman is, when a big spotlight suddenly drops out of the sky and smashes into the street near him. Though baffled by the incident, he drives to work receiving news about an airplane dropping parts, over his car radio. On a field job, Truman reexperience old memories of an accident out at sea when he lost his father and when he suddenly bumps into a homeless man on tbe street that looks exactly like his father, some passers by suddenly interfer and remove him from the street and away via a bus. Truman is constantly obstructed in his efforts to catch up.
As he gets more and more suspicious about his surroundings and the people around him he feels an equally intensifying obstruction everywhere he goes, especially from his wife. She has a harder and harder time playing her role and is removed from the "show". On the other hand his best friend, who is always used to bring around to his house whenever Truman gets too close to revealing the truth, is succesful in relaxing him. He seems to fall back into his "role" when his father is reintroduced into the "story", with an amnesia excuse.
But Truman has a plan. While he pretends to be sleeping in his cellar, he escapes his house, and for a while he is out of the controlling view of the director of the show (Ed Harris). Truman has escaped through a hole he has dug to the garden outside, found his way to the sea and commandeered a sailboat. The cunning director figures out where Truman is and his reality show about Truman starts up again, but for the last time, showing a determined Truman sailing towards "the end of the world".
After trying to kill Truman by a raising a storm, the director finally realizes that the show is over. Truman survives and soon sails into a sky-painted dome. He finally realizes that his whole life has been a lie and a show. But he pulls himself together and walks up a staircase along the dome wall, that ends in a door marked exit. After a short conversation with the godlike director in th sky, he bows and leaves his false life behind and walks through the door.
The choice of Carrey for this role is brave but a brilliant stroke. One of the treats of the movie is his ability to balance seriousness and humor perfectly. He is a fine actor and only in scenes of deep sorrow or sentimentality his limitations show. Ed Harris is a personal favorite of mine and he never lets you down. He does a fine job here as the slightly narcissistic director of the show. I have seen him in better roles and he does not get enough screen time to burn through completely. One of my slight critiques is that i feel the movie is actually too short and scenes are a bit thin at times, where I would have loved more time to mould over the themes.
The main theme is about finding the truth about reality. This is one of those evergreen philosophical questions, that will leave you thinking your whole life possibly. But in this movie reduced to the reality that you are being force fed by your surroundings by your friends, your family, your partner, the media etc. It is about finding your true self and actually figuring out that the life you are living actually is not the life of your true self (hence the name true-man). Weir brilliantly illustrates how society keeps knocking you back into conformity all the time by using either force, blame or guilt and a good deal of gaslighting, so that you actually do not disturb their false lives either.
The certainty or lack there of in knowing what is reality is not only shown by the daily life of Truman, but also our peak at the people who watches the show. They are in a sense a level higher in knowledge than Truman... or are they. Truman figures out that he has to go through into the unknown behind the door. But the people watching the show, are not aware that it is actually a reality that is shown not a show as such. But when the last curtain falls on Truman, they just switch channel, to find something else to fill their empty mind with. This is a much deeper story that is just superficially touched upon.
I may be going out on a limb but I dare say that there is a reference to the freemason illuminati (!), in a scene where Truman parks his car in front of an obelisk that is placed exactly in the center of the car splitting it in two, and also some stately looking houses in the back. There are good reasons to believe that there is a group of people so powerful controlling media and the state, which is a reason for the brainwashed state for much of the world. See picture elsewhere here.
It is a great movie that flies by as if it was half an hour long. Entertaining performances by Carrey and also his wife and supporting actors. The cinematography is interestingly shot through many untraditional angles and fisheye views, to make us feel that we are also watching the Truman show. The director is not pounding the messages into our head, but manages to deliver them while keeping a good flow and letting the viewer use his own brain. A very recommendable movie.
Rating : 8/10
