Big Brother meets reality TV

Rating: Null/10 (25 January 2002)

SPOILERS.
I've never been a fan of Jim Carey, but the idea behind this film intrigued me. I'm glad I saw it because it is an incredible work. In fact I am duly impressed with the completeness of the entire project. The script, direction, performances and attention to detail all mix to create a veritable trompe l' oeil, much like the fictitious world of Truman.
This innovative film appeals to so many compelling concepts: The ubiquitous dint of television, the inclination of people to live vicariously through others, the turbid line between reality and the illusory, and the paranoia that someone is always `watching us'. At times I think that I must be some unwitting actor on a giant stage, being manipulated by some demiurgic force, because the world seems too ludicrous (not to mention the people that inhabit it) to be real.
Of course the most piquant aspect of the movie is the exploration of the idea of a higher being. Truman's quest for the truth of his specious world is analogous to man's search for the meaning of religion, and ultimately, God. This is played out masterfully here. When the transmission is cut a person from the barroom exclaims `Jesus, God In Heaven!' As Truman nears his escape Sylvia (from outside of the fake world) ironically prays for his deliverance. Christof (catch the name?), played by Ed Harris, sits in his control room as the eminence grise of Truman's world. As the `creator' of the TV show that Carey's character dwells in, his position is plenary. The trouble is that Truman has questions that his ostensible family and friends cannot answer. Truman knows his life is a mendacious trap and he wants manumission. Ultimately Truman and Christof collide at the boundary of the faÃ§ade as the former forces a theomachy. The omnipotent entity tries to force his recalcitrant subject to repent and return to his existence, but he refuses and finally rejects his originator.
Other moments in the film are as entertaining as the concepts are deep. The technological glitches are amusing and the people trying to get on the set and warn him are great (esp. the guy jumping out of the Christmas present). The viewers are interesting too; the lady who ignores her crying child in order to see the show, the elderly women who watch so intently, and of course the security guards who provide the movie's prescient ending when they realize the show is finally over, `What else is on?'