“Shutter Island”

Movie Review

Based on Dennis Lehane's 2003 novel of the same name, Shutter Island is a 2010 American neo-noir psychological thriller film that Martin Scorsese directed and Laeta Kalogridis adapted. When one of the patients goes missing, Deputy U.S. Marshal Edward "Teddy" Daniels, played by Leonardo DiCaprio, investigates a psychiatric facility on Shutter Island. Ben Kingsley plays the facility's chief psychiatrist, Max von Sydow portrays a German doctor, and Michelle Williams plays Daniels' wife. Mark Ruffalo plays his partner and fellow deputy marshal.

Ashecliffe Hospital for the Criminally Insane on Shutter Island in Boston Harbor is where U.S. Marshal Edward "Teddy" Daniels and his new partner Chuck Aule go to look into the disappearance of Rachel Solando, who drowned her three children. The personnel, under the direction of psychiatrist Dr. John Cawley, seem recalcitrant. Lester Sheehan, Solando's medical professional, promptly departed the island for vacation, the marshals learn.

Teddy suffers from migraines, has flashbacks of his time serving in the U.S. Army during the liberation of Dachau, and also has intense dreams about his late wife Dolores, who perished in a fire started by the arsonist Andrew Laeddis. Teddy tells Chuck that he took the case in search of Laeddis because he thought he was on the island. When Solando reappears out of nowhere, Teddy is forced to enter a locked ward where he encounters inmate George Noyce. Teddy is warned by the man that everyone is lying to him and that the physicians are performing experiments on their patients, some of whom are brought to a lighthouse to undergo lobotomies.

Chuck and Teddy reunite after climbing the cliffs toward the lighthouse, but they divide as they do so. Teddy searches after discovering Chuck's death on the rocks below but only discovers a cave where a lady claiming to be the real Solando is hiding. It's been a while since I've been here. She claims that Cawley and his associate Dr. Naehring would pretend that Teddy's combat stress has caused him to go crazy so they may commit him. When Teddy returns to the hospital, Cawley welcomes him. As Teddy inquires about Chuck's location, Cawley adamantly maintains that Teddy is alone on the island and does not have a partner.

Teddy, who believes Chuck was brought to the lighthouse, makes his way there but runs across Naehring, who tries to put him to sleep. As Teddy finally manages to overcome him and enter the lighthouse, he finds Cawley waiting for him. Teddy approaches Cawley, exposes his interaction with Solando, and claims he thinks Cawley is performing an experiment on him. Teddy's tremors are being attributed to withdrawal symptoms from the anti-psychotic drug chlorpromazine, which he has been taking for two years, according to Cawley, who denies that Solando ever existed and says that Teddy has not been drugged.

As Chuck shows there, he confesses that he is actually Dr. Sheehan. According to Cawley, "Teddy" is actually Andrew Laeddis, who is in jail for killing his maniac wife after she drowned their three children. When Dolores burned down their apartment, Andrew did not seek assistance for her; instead, he moved his family to a lake property, where the catastrophe occurred. Cawley clarifies that Andrew's illusion is a product of his guilt, that his headaches and hallucinations are actually signs of withdrawal, and that recent events have been a complex role play intended to treat him. Andrew collapses from his unexpected remembrance.

When Andrew eventually wakes up, he calmly tells the medics the truth. They had reached this level nine months earlier, according to Cawley, but Andrew suddenly relapsed. He forewarns Andrew that this is his final opportunity and that he will be lobotomized if he slips up once more. Later, Andrew unwinds with Sheehan on the hospital grounds. Looking insane, Andrew again refers to Sheehan as "Chuck" and insists they must leave the island. Sheehan gives Cawley the go-ahead to have Andrew lobotomized. The next question Andrew poses to Sheehan is, "Would it be worse to die as a nice man, or to live as a monster?" Sheehan, who is now in a state of shock, calls Andrew "Teddy," but the latter does not reply and walks away calmly with the orderlies.

Critics gave Shutter Island generally favorable reviews, and the National Board of Review named it one of the top ten movies of 2010. The soundtrack of the movie is renowned for its heavy reliance on classical music.

WATCH THE REVIEW VIDEO FOR MORE...