THE AISLE SEAT - "THE TRUMAN SHOW"
by Mike McGranaghan
The Truman Show is a movie to get excited about. There aren't many pictures that send me out of the theater so exhilarated, but this is one of them. Whereas most comedies are content just to make you laugh, The Truman Show wants to do that and so much more. There hasn't been such an original or stimulating comedy in a long time. When it was over, I wanted to stand up and cheer.
Jim Carrey takes his first mature role as insurance salesman Truman Burbank. Truman lives on what he thinks is a little Florida island called Seahaven. In reality, he lives inside the world's largest television studio where his every move is broadcast to a worldwide audience. Everyone around him is an actor playing a role. Every building he enters is a set. It's all fake. His life has been a 24-hour-a-day TV event since he was born. The only person who does not know this is Truman himself.
The film introduces us to Truman at the exact moment when he begins to suspect something is wrong (his first clue: a klieg light falls from the sky). He starts looking more carefully at his world, his wife Meryl (Laura Linney), and his best friend Marlon (Noah Emmerich). Things don't quite add up. Truman is also haunted by the memory of Sylvia, the long lost love who gave him an intriguing message before disappearing.
What's amazing about The Truman Show is the sheer cleverness of the script and the ways Truman is kept from questioning his world. I won't ruin the fun of discovering these little tricks, but here's just one example to give you a taste: Truman sees a travel agency poster featuring an airplane being struck by lightning. The caption reads, "It Could Happen To You!" This apparently puts the fear of flying into him so he won't try to take a vacation. The whole world created in this film is filled with little messages that subliminally work on Truman. You almost have to see the movie twice to catch all these hidden gems.
And once this magnificent artificial world is created, the film spends the second half of its running time deconstructing the world. We meet the creator of "The Truman Show," a guy named Christof (Ed Harris) who sits in a giant control room and manipulates everything in Truman's life. He is part mogul, part artiste; a beret is perennially on his head, and he constantly fusses over his creation. Christof explains how the world was created and how Truman has been kept in the dark about reality for decades. As amazing as Seahaven is to watch, it's even more incredible to ponder how such a task might be accomplished. In a way, the movie is like learning a magic act. First, you see the illusion, then you discover all the deceptions that went into it. I seriously doubt this kind of thing could ever really be done, but it sure is a fun premise to go along with. (I should note that in addition to Truman and Christof, we also get glimpses of the viewing audience who soak up Truman's every move.)
The Truman Show is a different kind of Jim Carrey movie. It's hysterically funny, but not in a talking-out-the-butt way. The humor comes from the inventiveness of the situation and the way Truman's life has been sanitized because of it. The picture continually delights the audience with tiny glimpses behind the curtain where we see all the things that are obscured from Truman.
And Carrey's performance is far more restrained than in his earlier works. What may surprise some people is that his work here deserves an Oscar nomination. It takes someone of unusual talent to pull off the role of Truman Burbank. His environment has shaped his personality in unusual ways. He takes everything at face value, never questioning the answers or doubting the "official" story. Then, once it becomes clear that something is askew, Truman breaks free. A whole new perspective opens up to him, one he is not necessarily equipped to deal with. Carrey captures all this while still making sure we know Truman is more than just an experiment; he's a decent, good guy.
The Truman Show was written by Andrew Niccol (Gattaca) and directed by Peter Weir (Dead Poets Society). These are intelligent men who have made a comedy that zaps you with its wit and stuns you with its brain. There is a message here about the way television has changed the world. In some ways, we are all Truman Burbank. Everywhere we go, we are watched. But there's another message buried in here, too, about the audience who watches this kind of program - one that is revealed in the brilliant final scene. Only two lines are spoken, but they knock you for a loop while making you laugh uproariously. It's the kind of picture-perfect ending that few movies have the courage to attempt. Like my two other favorite films this year - Dark City and City of Angels - The Truman Show is a movie of ideas, and an extraordinary one at that.
(
out of four)
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