Moments pages are Spoilers Off. You Have Been Warned.
- A small but pivotal moment: Due to a technical glitch, Truman accidentally hears instructions being fed to people around him over a radio frequency he's never heard before. Disturbed, he then spends the next ten minutes going out of his way to break the usual morning routine in various different ways, ranging from subtle to wildly idiosyncratic. It pays off when, at one point, he walks into a green room. It's the first section of the movie where he really starts to question his surroundings.
- While it is a sad and scary moment, Truman lashing out at Meryl after she pulls a bunch of knives is a sign that he's not gonna put up with her bullshit anymore.
- Sylvia gets one when she calls into "Trutalk" to call out Christof for his actions in front of a live watching audience.Christof: I think what distresses you ultimately, caller, is that Truman prefers his 'cell', as you call it.
Sylvia: You're wrong. You're so wrong. And he'll prove you wrong. - After the incidents that give him full knowledge that everything is fake, Truman decides to give the audience one more show and goes along with his usual routine. No one, not the cast or the filming staff, realizes he's onto their secret and just playing them. Ironically and literally "acting" in a live reality show and fooling them all.Truman: That one's for free.
- The prelude to Truman's last attempted escape: He builds a dummy of himself, digs an escape tunnel from the basement to the yard, and makes it down to the harbor. Both without being seen by anyone in town and without being seen on any cameras, including the one in the basement that was watching him.
- Although to be fair to the production crew, it would appear that the cameras have to be actively controlled rather than tracking Truman on automatic; so long as they thought they were still watching Truman with the basement camera, the others probably wouldn't be activated.
- "Cue the Sun". This is moments after turning the moon into a spotlight to hunt Truman down.
- Truman's last attempted escape over water, his biggest phobia engineered to prevent escape, with a storm deliberately blown up to massive proportions. Logically, he wouldn't have been very good at sailing, then couple that with the fact that Christof was ready to kill him to stop him from leaving, but with the entire audience cheering him on, Truman still survives, and offers one of the most defiant screams ever, while Christof looks on in shock:[Truman proceeds to sing the Drunken Sailor shanty]
- Even the TV engineer (played by Paul Giamatti) is moved by Truman's defiance, refusing to be the one to increase the effects to their limits and kill Truman.Engineer: He's gonna drown and he doesn't even care.
- Even the TV engineer (played by Paul Giamatti) is moved by Truman's defiance, refusing to be the one to increase the effects to their limits and kill Truman.
- "In case I don't see ya: Good afternoon, good evening, and good night." Truman rebuffs Christof's offer to stay, takes a bow, and walks out of the set as people around the world cheer. Christof falls into a Villainous BSoD and slumps over in shock, while a nameless studio executive tells the crew to cut the feed, ending the live show for good.
- "You never had a camera in my head!" A perfectly understated Shut Up, Hannibal!.
- Burkhard Dallwitz's score. Storm
is particularly moving. - There's a deleted scene where Christof has a cast meeting, and maintains to his actors that not only will he eventually produce the "first on-air conception" but he'll have a whole new channel for Truman's prospective child. In response, Louis Coltrane (Marlon) proceeds to make things very awkward:Christof: [Beat] ...that will be all. Thank you. [ends the meeting]
- While he did it for selfish reasons, Truman's fake father sneaking onto the set is still pretty impressive considering all the surveillance.
