The Truman Show Review
by Jeff Pidgeon (jeff AT pixar DOT com)June 15th, 1998
DON'T TOUCH THAT DIAL
A review of "The Truman Show" by Jeff "spoilers" Pidgeon
"The Truman Show", the latest in an intriguing series of films by
director Peter ("Witness") Weir, is a thought-provoking fantasy about a fic- tional television program. In it, Truman Burbank (Jim Carrey)'s life has been broadcast since birth on a hermetically sealed island town called Sea Haven. Truman goes through his daily routine, completely unaware that everyone around him are paid performers who mold his fate. It's a great concept, one that can be interpreted differently by viewers of different ages. Children (albeit old- er or sharp ones) could find a compelling conceit in the idea that everything in existence revolves around you, and if you're alert enough, you'll be able to spot the seams in the deception. Teenagers could see it as an escape picture, rebellion from the opressive misconceptions of the previous generation. Older viewers may see it as a call to re-examine their lives, to challenge the com- fortable patterns that may be smothering crucial needs still unfufilled. Even if you remain on the surface level, it's still a pretty clever escape picture. Weir does a terrific job setting up the concept visually, letting the audience get a significant distance into its running time before throwing back the sheet on Truman's make-believe world. Almost every shot is staged to feel clandestine, the camera placed again and again in convincing locations to put the viewer in between the television audience and the show's creators. We see how someone can be filmed all day long without the shot angles feeling gimmicky or forced.
The film opens as Truman's world begins to unravel -- as thoroughly
as Sea Haven's island community seems to be orchestrated, events continue to build to his ultimate discovery of his lifelong deception by the show's crea- tor, Christof (subtly played by Ed Harris). It's really entertaining to see the lengths that the production team will go to in order to preserve the illu- sion -- young Truman shows an early interest in exploration, only to have it immedately squashed by his teacher. We also gain sympathy for Truman as the methods for maintaining his limited life become crueler and more stringent -- he is molded into a frightened, unambitious man in order to prevent him from desiring life beyond what has been created for him in the huge dome that sur- rounds his world. When Truman falls in love with a woman other than the act- ress slated to be his wife, she is summarily removed from the show.
Many of the mistakes and accidents that do occur are explained away by
cast members or radio broadcasts or other factors, but eventually, as Truman becomes more suspicious and acts less and less predictably, making him harder and harder to control, he discovers the ghosts in the machine -- or at least sees enough to provoke further testing of the show's defense mechanisms, which in turn provoke a stronger desire for escape, to explore the world that has al- ways fascinated him. The struggle is great drama, and the ratings are terri- fic -- audiences all over the world, initially attracted to watching a 'real' life progressing in time yet permanently static, become tranfixed with Truman's efforts to discover what lies beyond the life he's always known. Some in the audience feel that Truman's life is cruel and unusual punishment, and protest for his release.
The film's story is essentially simple -- Truman discovers the maze
and struggles to solve it and take his place in the real world. Will he ulti- mately find freedom, or be crushed in an enviroment where every element -- even the weather -- conspires to contain him? Weir uses many striking visuals to dramatize the concept. The population of Sea Haven wait motionless early in the morning, awaiting Truman's entry like the robots from "Westworld". The towns- people, discovering that Truman is missing, link arms and sweep the entire town to flush him out and continue the show (a truly creepy and terrific sequence). The figurehead of Truman's stolen boat, a golden eagle, thrusts out above the water as he pilots it out into the unknown. Christof tenderly stroking a huge video image of Truman as he lies asleep.
The latter image brings another dimension to the creator/creation con- flict. We are clearly encourged to think of humanity and God in conflict (as a last resort, "Christ"-of broadcasts to Truman directly, his voice booming down from a dawn-lit sky), yet on another level, we can see creator/creation in less philosophical terms as a parent-child conflict, with the central theme as maturity, forming one's own perspective through a partial rejection of the imparted parental world. Christof can be seen as the ultimate overprotective parent, literally creating for his surrogate son an entire world safe from the (ironically) lies and pain of the real world. As in some of Weir's other films, the protagonist is privy to an experience that isolates him from others (as in "The Mosquito Coast" or "Fearless") and forces him to put himself at risk. Andrew ("Gattaca") Niccol wrote the script for "The Truman Show", and
like that film, its merits are primarily conceptual -- its emotional themes are to a degree in shorthand, but still effective: Truman creates a composite por- trait of his first love with pictures torn from fashion magazines, Truman re- unites with his dead father when (dissatisfied with how he was dispatched from the plot) the performer unexpectedly returns on the set. If we had seen and felt a stronger bond between them, this reunion could have been extremely pow- erful in highlighting the emotional cruelty that lies beneath the placid sur- face of Truman's life. Similarly, more could have been made of the performers who support Truman, but feel powerless to help him.
The technical efforts here are fine -- Dennis Gassner's production de-
sign clearly defines the real world versus the television show; Peter Biziou's cinematography also attractively supports the concept. The score sports a var- iety of styles -- Philip Glass and Chopin among them -- yet it coheres and more than embellishes the film's emotional impact. The editors might have used this concept as an excuse for showy effects, but William M. Anderson and Lee Smith keep things clear and on an even keel when appropriate. Look for Harry Shearer in a well-used cameo. Recommended.
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- Jeff "When I'm Finished With You, They'll Be Stumbling Over YOU In The Dark" Pidgeon
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