Film Reviews & Movie Analysis

Good morning, and in case I don’t see ya, Good afternoon, good evening, and goodnight.

I knew the premise of The Truman Show and had somehow managed to convince myself I had seen it before. I had not. At least now however I won’t be lying.

The Truman Show is a reality series that is loved by all around the world. It has been on live, twenty four hours a day, seven days a week, for the past thirty years and numbers are still strong thanks to committed fans.

Truman Burbank (Jim Carrey) in the small town of Seahaven Island has never heard of The Truman Show. He doesn’t know it has a worldwide following and he doesn’t know he’s the star. For him, it’s just life.

To call this movie clever is a gross understatement. After watching it, more and more aspects kept arising as to why it was so effective. First and foremost we the audience were “in on it” from the beginning. Our audience status was lifted from passive to an active passive as we became just like the audience portrayed on screen.

Truman’s escalating paranoia kept me at the edge of my seat. From the moment the light fell from the sky you just knew any manner of things could go wrong to break the illusion. As much as suspicious events were covered up or denied, once he started picking at holes, we knew he wouldn’t let go, and yet we were just as eager to discover what he would find.

I think most importantly you start to empathise with Truman, who can’t confirm nor deny that something is off in his life. Where do you start? How do you even begin to believe that the only world you’ve know is a lie – you get to a point psychologically where you start to think the problem is you.

Jim Carey was brilliant as the originally complacent turned proactive Truman and it honestly just made me miss him as an actor.

To be perfectly honest, I wish I could write a three thousand word essay on The Truman Show I found it that interesting; Slightly prophetic in the knowledge of the increase of human self-absorbedness over the years The Truman Show exposes that the deconstruction of our personal realities can be both cathartic and a casualty.