The finest testament to powerful, visionary filmmaking is its lasting impact. Films whose theories about the state of things, or the future state of things, move from being portent to simply relevant. Peter Weir‘s 1998 drama The Truman Show fits firmly into the latter category, carrying messages of paranoia versus celebrity and denial versus discovery that have only rung more and more true with each passing day.
The Nerd Writer has just released a video essay that delves into this. Titled “What The Truman Show Teaches Us About Politics,” it considers, among other things, the process of “waking up” from one state of political and ideological understanding, then moving towards another. What The Truman Show does so powerfully, he states, is show how this process is not easy. It is painful. It is difficult. Enlightenment and freedom are not always a path full of sunny skies and gently rocking waves, but, sometimes, a black abyss. Difficult to face, harsh in its reality, but just as important for it.
The essay points to this and other aspects of the current political and socio-political climate, further demonstrating The Truman Show‘s lasting impact. What surprised me upon a recent rewatch was just how emotional and complex its ideas are — it is not a silly Jim Carrey film, but a probing exploration of hard truths and the courage to say goodbye.
See the full video essay below: