Insightful and delicately beautiful

Rating: 10/10 (4 May 1999)

Peter Weir is one of the most interesting directors working today. His casting of Jim Carrey as the titular Truman may have raised some eyebrows, but then Weir has never been known for his conventionality. Weir has a way of drawing great (or at least greatish) performances out of his actors: Robin Williams in "Dead Poets Society," Rosie Perez in "Fearless." And Carrey has shown seeds of greatness before; rent "Doing Time on Maple Drive" (if you can find it) to see what I'm talking about. Truman's entire life, since the day of his birth, has been orchestrated on a giant television studio set, the only world Truman knows, and televised worldwide as "The Truman Show." Truman represents something impossibly difficult to find in our society today: an absolutely innocent person. This goes a long way to explain his public's fascination with him. Ed Harris brings a bizarre dignity and ethic to his portrayal of Christos, the god-like creator and director of "The Truman Show." This delicately beautiful film shows us the utter hypocrisy of our media and the herd-like docility with which we accept that very hypocrisy. Although it doesn't offer many answers, it asks a lot of the right questions.