iREVIEW: The Truman Show

Starring Jim Carrey, Ed Harris and Laura Linney. Written by Andrew Niccol and directed by Peter Weir.

[BRUTAL SPOILERS]

So, Truman drifts away from the shoreline of Seahaven and down the calm sea in his sailboat after surviving the wrath of unpredictable storms. He sits with his head up on the front deck sailing towards his lifelong dream of exploring the beautiful world around him. Today he will. But then... the boat suddenly collides into... horizon! Truman bolts to the front of the boat and slowly extends his hand to touch the horizon. He closes his eyes trying to contain his brain from exploding. And then he touches the horizon! It is a wall! Truman breaks down and begins clobbering the wall in front of him, trying to rip it apart and break free. He isn't just pounding any wall, he is pounding the wall of his very own existence. The Truman Show is all about this scene which is the climax of this highly intellectual film. This film tries to analyze the most fundamental instincts of humans, which is freedom and self-consciousness of its existence. As late OSHO, an Indian mystic, once said (paraphrase) "Humans and Animals differ at a fundamental level. Animals aren't aware of the fact that they are."

I loved this film for two reasons: (1) As I watching it, I was thoroughly enjoying its nail-biting entertainment factor, (2) The more I think about it, the deeper the film gets. One wonders what Truman's immediate thoughts are as he is feeling the concrete horizon! He sure has realized the world around him is limited. A person can live in confinement for a specific reason, like in a prison, but having no consciousness about the existing boundaries of the world is the ultimate confinement of all. Humans flourish on the fact that anything is possible, achievable, opportunities are abound and the reasons to move on are limitless. The world itself is infinite. But when everything the world has to offer has a limit and you are unlucky enough to find this out, suddenly your growth stops and so does your reason to exist. As a newborn, our world is small enough to comfortably fit us in one room of a house. As we grow, our world grows and keeps expanding in our psyche till we are six feet under. Truman's desire to go to Fiji didn't arise merely from the sudden relocation of his first love to Fiji but all he is trying to do is expand. The world seem to be closing on him as he grows older. An opposite of what human instinct is coded to respond to. And when the instinct is suppressed, an uprising takes place. Truman, who was devastated by the thought of even crossing over a bridge, grabs a sailboat in hopes to explore the rest of the world. He literally sails way, taking in his own hands the responsibility to expand his world.

It is unfortunate that Truman finds out the truth only in his adulthood that the world around him is a set for a television show, all the people he ever knew from his mom to dad to wife are all actors and even the weather is nothing but one of human's many demented creations. But at least he finds out and has the liberty to all the answers that troubled him for so long. It is funny that humans are thought to have an unquenchable thirst for attention. At least that's what keeps the fraternity of performing arts all pumped up! But what happens when you are the center of all the attention? When every action of yours seem to have a witness. When everything that moves around seem to be doing so in sync with your actions. The Truman Show tells us it is debilitating, excruciating and sympathetic for others to watch.

At the end of the day, we are humans and nothing more. All we need to be sure of is that we exist. Nothing more, nothing less.

I am sure everybody enjoyed The Truman Show as well!

***** / *****