Truman is a touching but light-hearted movie about dealing with death. Tomás returns to Madrid to re-unite with Juliàn, his best friend from student days who is now dying of cancer. Both struggle to honestly confront the approaching reality, especially as it impacts on others close to Juliàn. There are insightful moments when Juliàn discovers unexpected love from some, and his need to offer apologies to others. Dying isn't just about bodily collapse, but more importantly about relationships and how we tend them as we must say inevitable goodbyes. This movie suggests that dying is really more about others than about ourselves, quite a reversal of the usual focus.
There are moments of revelation. Like at the undertaker's when Juliàn is shocked to discover that his ashes will fit into such a small urn. As if to ask, "Is that all there is to me?"
Whilst the movie does explore Juliàn's parting relationships with his son, his ex-wife, his close friends and his theatrical colleagues, it is symbolically his care for his closest companion, the bullmastiff Truman, that most tellingly expresses the message of this fine film. Nothing counts more than true friendship, which in the end draws out the best in us, and it is that which supports us.
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