Truman Shows us How to Live

Rating: 9/10 (22 January 2020)

Truman Shows us How to Live
The Truman Show sets a good example for other movies, with hundreds of creative camera angles and shots. Music, one of the three sounds of film plays a drastic role in the structure of the movie. The score is mostly classical which sets the stage for the rest of the movie.
The Truman Show, directed by Peter Weir and written by Andrew Niccol, takes place on the man-made "Seahaven Island." The movie begins with Truman (Jim Carrey) exiting his home to commute to work. The sky is bright blue with a few clouds here and there. A day most would consider perfect. He greets his neighborhood with a smile and just before he enters his car, his neighbor's excited dog jumps up and greets Truman. He enters the city and the audience is introduced to a pair of twins named Ron and Don Taylor. The twins inconspicuously push Truman's back against an advertisement which is perfectly in frame of a close-up shot. This exact set of events happens everyday at the exact same time. This is where the audience really has the opportunity to puzzle these pieces together on their own. Once Truman arrives in his office, he makes a private phone call to an airline service in an attempt to book a flight to Fiji. We the audience are shown that Truman does not wish to continue life on Seahaven Island.
The issue with leaving the island is hidden from Truman. Seahaven Island is a live TV show, with everybody being an actor except for Truman. There is a group of people standing in protest of The Truman Show due to the unethical nature of the plot. One protester (Lauren Garland, played by Natascha McElhone) was able to contact Truman by disguising herself as an actor. They go on a small date and she begins dumping truth into Truman's ears. She explains that nothing he ever experienced is real and the whole island is made for him. Her father who was actually just another actor collected her and before he left, he told Truman that they're moving to Fiji. This is the reason Truman wants to leave Seahaven Island.
Take into account that he was born on live TV, and continues to live on TV. The Truman Show captures the emotions one would feel if they were forced to experience everything in life being fake. Once Truman begins to discover what his life truly is, he does things unexpected and erratically. One example of this is Truman walking into his office building and immediately back out, then entering another. The stage crew never expected Truman to be in that building, and when he called an elevator, the door opened to a group of movie employees on break. They quickly try to cover up the mistake by having security throw him out of the building. While this is all happening, we are viewing a close-up shot of Truman with loud classical music as he breaks the simulation. This music gives the entire sequence a sense of unknown. The look on Truman's face reflects utter confusion along with determination. The confusion that Truman is able to convey when his father who supposedly died at sea is rushed off the set by men in black. By using Truman's emotion we're able to empathize with him and that is one of the biggest factors to making a good movie. Assuring that the audience is involved in Truman's conflicts allows us to experience the movie, not simply watch it. The director's motive with this strategy is to completely blow other mystery movies out of the water. Comparing this film to other psychological mysteries shows how devoted Peter Weir was in producing an effective film.
The goal of a good movie is to engage the audience, allow them to make assumptions about the film and come to their own unique conclusion. One story is split into hundreds simply because we all have our own experiences to draw comparisons to.
The Truman Show receives a positive review from me for a lot of reasons. Those reasons being: Suspense, Humor and the biggest being Creativity. When I watched The Truman Show for the first time I was astonished. I believe that this film deserves a spot on everybody's Top 10, the camera angles and positions emphasize the fact that they're hidden. If you haven't watched this movie, you definitely should soon!