Film Club Extra - The Truman Show

Final Thoughts – The Truman Show Friday 14th December 2007

This is a film that has many different targets and many different layers – it was written by Andrew Niccol who also wrote Gattaca which, like the more popular Minority Report, explores whether we are just the product of our genes or whether we can rise above our circumstances. In this film the question is asked - can Truman escape his artificial life and find something better? Can one man rise above his fears to find true love and a life with someone who loves him for who he really is? And like the audience who watch his every move we want him to make it, for deep in our own hearts we want to make it too.

So the self realization and the journey of true man is about the self realization and the journey of everyman… and for that matter every woman too.

But there is also a swipe at the kind of candy coated unreal world that we saw last time in the idealised setting of 1950’s Pleasantville. This time that world is represented by Disney whose studios along with those of Warner Bros, NBC and most other studios apart from Paramount are in the area of Burbank California. Hence the surname Truman Burbank, and so the dog that greets him when he leaves the house is of course one of the 101 Dalmatians and unsurprisingly named Pluto, the dog’s owner looked a bit like Walt Disney as well and the streets where Truman lives certainly look like a glorified Disney world with everything practically perfect in every way. And you noticed the incessant advertising through product placement to fund this nightmarish world.

But at the very start of the film of course Truman thinks it’s all just fine. He knows no different. It’s only when he sees the light which falls from the sky and then hears a director’s voice on the radio that he begins to question the reality of the world around him. And then he falls in love and that wasn’t in the script particularly as Lauren is not one to play along with this charade. She is quickly written out of the story line in an effort to get it all back on track, but Truman is determined to follow his heart and find her. He finds his escape route from Seahaven blocked in ever more dramatic fashion. But eventually he escapes by confronting the ultimate fear that has been placed within him, he sets sail for a new world, eventually reaching the edge of his known world and the beginning of that which is real. At that point he hears a voice booming down from heaven in one last attempt to hold on to him. 'Who are you,' says Truman, 'I am the creator of a television show,' says the voice, 'a show that gives hope and joy and inspiration to millions.'

But at the same time we see Lauren whispering in a still small voice a prayer to another God, one who will set the love of her life free. Truman pauses on the brink, and the world holds its breath, but then he makes his decision and having seemingly walked on water, climbs the hill of stairs before he turns and with arms outstretched wishes his past good bye and enters a world that is his future hope.

There are many websites that explore all of this in far more detail. Websitses such as Damaris and Hollywood Jesus to name but two, and many of course have seen within this film an obvious allegory with the Christian story, not least because the director in the sky is called Christof. Some of those who write in to post their comments on these web pages have identified with Truman and indeed speak of escaping from either the sanitized and ultimately unsatisfying disneyfied world they have been brought up in - to the harsher and yet more fulfilling world where they are free to be themselves or indeed of escaping from an oppressive view of religion where God was seen by them or the cult they were part of as an authoritarian, though usually benevolent, dictator in the sky. They speak of a new understanding of a God who is with us. A God who guides by love rather than one who controls by fear.

And some have gone even further and seen in the boat that carried Truman to his new life a direct reference to Psalm 139 in the Bible. The boat he set sail in, which was called Santa Maria, had the number 139 on the sail, and if we were to read Psalm 139 we would see phrases such as, 'Lord you know all about me, you see me when I am resting and when I am waking, you know all my actions. You saw me before I was born, your knowledge of me is too deep, beyond my understanding. Where could I go to escape from you...' and so on.

The question though remains if God, being God, is indeed all knowing and all powerful as the psalm says, is he also all controlling like Christof the TV director in the sky, or is a better representation of the power and nature of God to be seen in the love of Lauren which fills the spirit of Truman with that which will help him to overcome his fears and ultimately set him free to really live?

Religion has been called the opium of the people, and like materialism can be dangerous and debilitating, lulling us into a false sense of security, where we believe that everything is taken care of and provided for us. Real faith works better in the real world where things may be a bit more haphazard, and less ordered but where people can be more real and where our choices have real consequences and where relationships can have real depth.

And why show this film in the run up to Christmas? Well the story of a baby born in a stable in Bethlehem is at its heart the story of how a God who was once only perceived to be a distant voice from on high, became known, humbling himself out of love to be, God with us, relating to us in a real way in the real world.

Happy Christmas and we look forward to seeing you in the new year if not before with a film on the 11th January about how in that real world, life ain't always that easy. Till then, good night and God bless.

David Bagwell Dec. 2007