The Truman Show - A Big Review

Rating: 9/10 (1 November 2012)

Truman Burbank is an ordinary guy in an ordinary little seaside town of Seahaven Island where nothing really happens. Everything is clean, everything is perfect, he knows people but never really connects to anyone. The one woman he ever really loved is not his wife and has long since left for the other side of the world where he longs to visit but feels he can never go. We are shown that every turn he makes, every attempt to escape is blocked by malevolent simulators and high tech manipulators intent on keeping him inside. He is watched 24 hours a day, seven days a week and his life televised as a form of entertainment. Paralyzed by his fear of water since seeing his father die on a boating accident, Truman still feels he is missing something. A strange light falling from the sky, a man who reminds him of his dead father, a strange radio broadcast and the feeling that the world really stops when he shuts his eyes all combine to make him feel something is wrong.
Some of the positive aspects of the film are that Truman is a well looked after person. He is treated kindly by everyone and has been given a normal life to live in "I've given Truman the chance to live a normal life" says Christoff. Relationships with our family and friends are the most important thing. We see this through times when Truman is upset or needs help. He goes to his mum and best friend Marlon for support and they help him out. His mum talks him through his problems and acts like a normal mum would while Marlon settles his problems over a 6 pack of beers. The audience also has something to watch on television. Live for the whole world to see 24 hours a day, 7 days a week people watch as Truman goes through his everyday life, Christoff makes money and the audience have a show they enjoy watching.
Some of the negative aspects of the film are that Truman never actually had a family. He is trapped inside a fake world (town of Seahaven) where every single person except him are actors and he begins to become aware of the situation he is in. He is being misled into believing the lies that have been constructed for him to keep him unaware of the real events occurring around him. We realise that Trumans wife is just an actor playing a role, in which she was placed, she had no real emotional feelings for Truman. She is just playing the role of his wife and so Truman's sense of love and relationship is distorted. Whenever Truman tries to go someplace far he is always blocked. From the sudden masses of traffic to the apparent nuclear meltdown Truman can never escape and will be trapped inside a fake world until he finally has enough, faces his fears and sails a boat into the horizon.
Overall this is a great film about Truman trying to find his way into the real world. When everything seems like it doesn't add up, it just keeps getting more complicated for him. In the end Truman couldn't handle it anymore and the will to live couldn't be quashed by anything. Not even television.
"Good morning, and in case I don't see ya, good afternoon, good evening, and good night!"-The Truman Show