Shutter Island is the movie to watch if you want to see a dark and complex psychological thriller. The 2010 movie, which is an adaptation of Dennis Lehane’s 2003 novel, fulfills all the requirements for a thrilling neo-noir journey. Solitary context? Check. A key character who is paranoid and obsessed? Check. Low-key lighting and ominous visuals? Check. Martin Scorsese‘s successful movie about a U.S. Marshal examining the case of a disappeared mentally ill patient was praised for its atmosphere, actors, and camera work. Despite mixed reviews for the contentious twist ending of the movie, Shutter Island was a box office blockbuster.
The movie, which is set in 1954, follows U.S. Marshal Teddy Daniels (Leonardo DiCaprio) as he makes his way to the isolated Ashecliffe Hospital for the criminally insane. When they arrive, they start looking into the case of the missing Patricia Clarkson‘s Rachel Solando, a woman who was brought to the hospital because she drowned her kids. The only hint is a complex riddle that can be discovered in Rachel’s chamber, thus solutions are taking a while some time to be proposed. Yet Teddy’s wonders grow as he learns more about Rachel and the Ashecliffe Hospital. Teddy rapidly discovers that there is more to Ashecliffe, its patients, and doctors than initially appears due to a number of unsettling dreams, a mystery behind the recovery techniques, and a big hurricane that is about to arrive and endanger his progress.
Shutter Island has numerous twisting entertainment, particularly the moment Teddy invites the viewers to participate in his investigation into Rachel’s abduction. Although all of the actors give convincing performances, particularly DiCaprio and Ben Kingsley as the reclusive psychiatrist John Cawley, the setting is what really steals the show. The movie virtually drips with mood between the desolate, rain-lashed island and Ashecliffe’s numerous dark prison cells and protracted, silent hallways. Low lighting, a decision made by Scorsese, introduces thick shadows that add to the film’s claustrophobic atmosphere and moody tone. Its 2+ hour running duration may have a tendency to drag, but the psychological thriller is strong enough to make up for it.
Nonetheless, in what way did it turn out? Teddy claimed to have solved the enigma of Rachel’s disappearance. Why is he experiencing hallucinations? And is Ashecliffe truly harboring any secrets? Should you be curious in the way Teddy’s narrative ended, involving that contentious twist, read on for a breakdown. Teddy experiences frequent headaches and illusions of his wife Dolores (Michelle Williams), who perished in a fire started by a guy called Andrew Laeddis, over the course of the movie. Throughout his inquiry into Rachel’s abduction, his mental tension grows more intense, and his exploration leads him outside the walls of Ashecliffe to the seashore cliffs and the foreboding lighthouse on Shutter Island, just off shore.
At the place, he discovers Dr. Cawley, who explains the movie’s events to both Teddy and the viewers. In fact, Teddy’s real name is Andrew Laeddis, an anagram of his made up name Edward Daniels. The movie’s actions up till now, including Cawley letting Andrew portray the part of Teddy, were intended to treat his mental illness, which resulted from killing his sorrowful wife after she murdered their kids at their lake cottage by drowning. In reality, Andrew is an inmate at Ashecliffe, using the alias Teddy Daniels as a coping mechanism.
The employees at the hospital, particularly the nurses and Lester Sheehan, who pretended to be Andrew’s colleague, Chuck, participated in the complex charade by feeding into Andrew’s illusions. What about his headaches? As Cawley and the rest of the doctors permitted him to spend time with his fantasy, Andrew had withdrawn from using his prescription medicines. Yet as Andrew is forced to face his horrific recollections and the actuality of his situation again, he faints and then wakes up in the hospital with Cawley. Cawley acknowledges that he and the rest of the doctors assisted Andrew in achieving this same serene state month earlier, albeit he quickly relapsed, even if Andrew appears ready to embrace the reality. Cawley cautions that if he reverts one more time, the doctors will be forced to lobotomize him.
Andrew’s improvement initially seems to be proceeding smoothly, but it doesn’t last long before he starts to reverse back. As he starts to discuss his urge to depart from the island, it becomes clear that he is one more time regressing into his psyche and the “Teddy” identity. And as Cawley had forewarned, this was indeed Andrew’s final opportunity. Cawley, who is dissatisfied, seeks advice from the Ashecliffe superintendent, and the hospital’s attendants to transfer Andrew for lobotomy so as to halt the cruel repetition of self-reproach and hallucinations that haunt him, for good.
Well, it’s a very depressing conclusion, but perhaps it isn’t as eventual as it seems. Did Andrew truly have a lobotomy? The final scene of the movie, which lingers on the lighthouse in which the surgery would take place, is very gloomy (as does the music that goes with it), and it appears to allude to Andrew’s future operation, yet we can’t be certain because since we have no chance to truly witness how it is carried out.
Whether it literally occurred or not (and there are strong reasons for both outcomes), the former may have been the choice Andrew was hoping for. In any case, just before being led away, he questions Sheehan, “To live as a monster, or to die as a good man? ” In essence, would he prefer to have a lobotomy to become Teddy, his deluded self who never murdered anyone, or to keep the life as his own, rational Andrew, who killed his beloved other? Although the conclusion differs differently from the one in the novel, Andrew’s inquiry appears to imply that he would be cool with the surgery given that it will help him get rid of the memories of the terrible things he has done. His genuine objective appears to be inner peace (with himself and the things he’s done), instead of continuing to live with regrets and terrible memories.
Even more crucially, Shutter Island poses the quiz of what it really means to be crazy while also challenging its characters and audience to distinguish between what is true and what is illusioned. Is it a problem with your mind? Repeating the same tasks and anticipating different outcomes? Or perhaps it’s the ongoing struggle to overcome obstacles when everybody is trying to drag you down. Whatever we think, the reality isn’t always as clear-cut as Andrew’s nuanced emotions and mental condition.
