The Truman Show

The Truman Show is such a good movie.

The attention to detail throughout the entire movie is just amazing!

  • Marlon stocking the vending machine while talking to Truman, but then quickly taking them out when Truman’s not looking.
  • Truman needing to take vitamins because he’s never been in the sun.
  • All the funky camera angles, and how Meryl frequently smiles directly at them.
  • The way all the “background characters” just act so plain weird! When Truman starts to realize something’s up, and steps out of his routine, they all continue playing their parts even though in reality people would stare at the man running and shouting! If someone driving almost ran into someone who was being careless, they would hop out of the car and go "What are you doing!" People would grumble and complain that the bus wasn’t working, not quickly get off the bus as if they were waiting for the announcement!
  • The lack of headrests in the vehicles so they can get better camera angles.
  • The way everything is just too crisp, and clean to be real.

The Truman Show isn't shown from Truman's POV

The way that we the audience are so distanced from Truman, is wonderfully done. Before he even becomes fully aware that there’s camera’s that could be watching him, there are still so many moments were his face is blocked by something, or he’s looking in the opposite direction, which creates distance from us the audience.
He never talks to himself during the entire movie. The only time we get to "be in his head" is when he specifically shares what he's thinking with someone else, and it ends up being filtered that way. And even then, we lose that throughout the movie as he starts to trust the people around him less and less.
His entire escape happens off-screen until he almost reaches the ocean wall, and they find him through the cameras. We didn’t even know he had a plan to escape still until he’s already gone, and Marlon finds the ladder leading to the hole in the basement (admittedly, he did give a hint with his “That one’s for free” in regards to his final mirror daydream. But again, it’s something that he specifically decided to share! It wasn’t us hearing his thoughts, it was him telling the camera he knew what was going on)

So despite being the main character, the movie is specifically not shown from Truman’s POV and I think they did an amazing job at it.