A movie that actually tells you the truth
The light of the master’s reign supreme even to this day in each of our breaths coming in and going out. It is for a dwindling contrast that seeing the truth is stark and unstable. Paradoxically it is for the beginning of eternal stability.
Stability we are all seeking but never seem to find no matter where we look for it. And we have endearingly looked at it everywhere we could, in our work, our recognition, our money, and our relationships.
But it never seems to fulfill us and it won’t because how can you fulfill something that is only pretending to be empty. How can you fill something that is full and acts as if there is more to add?
Who is Truman Burbank?
The life of Truman Burbank is a testament to this message. A true and artsy representation of an ancient truth so deeply seeped into our bones that we almost always ignore it. The movie “Truman show” showcases the life of Truman Burbank who is born and raised in a TV show.
The production team create a dome-like structure with a ceiling that represents the sky with alternating weather patterns. This makes it all too real for Truman. He believes that this reality is his truth and all the characters that are playing in the show are real.
A love that reveals the truth
There was an incident where something very real happened in this unreal world. His eyes smells the fragrance of love for the very first time. She is only an extra and has no relation to him whatsover. Although she is hesitant, this genuine love makes her choose to unveil the truth to him. These are like the messiahs that love us unconditionally.
Truman’s search for the truth
This experience has left Truman to find this person and understand more about the truth. But he faces a major obstacle- in the form of his own shadows and the collective ego. It does everything it can to distract Truman from breaking through the lie of his existence.
In the movie we see this in the different ways the production team uses different strategies emotional and sensual to make him forget about his quest. But as Truman becomes more and more aware every day, he begins to recognize patterns and the falseness of the whole place.
He faces his deepest fears
Truman in his endearing attempt to make a run for it all faces the biggest fear in his life ‘the sea’. He is terrified of this because as a kid they decide to create an event where he loses his father in a raging storm sailing in the sea. He know he has to face it if there is even a minute chance for him to know the truth.
He reaches the end of his world- a wall that is at the end atthe boundary. He has surpassed not only his shadows which is a representation of what was put inside him from childhood but also the society, the world which did not want him to wake up.
A metaphor for our own journeys
It is not only a film but a metaphor for the spiritual journey we are on. It is not a bed of roses but a path that requires us to break through our shackles of what has been put in us. Freedom is not easy but it is worth all that we face in the way. It begins with us, with awareness of what is happening in our own lives. Are we truly living our own lives or someone else’s or for someone else?