In the film Shutter Island, played by Leonardo DiCaprio, Teddy, a US Marshal ordered to look into the 1950s mental hospital of the same name, is introduced. He looks into the island because he thinks it may contain the man who killed Andrew Landis, his wife. But as he works his way through what he thinks is a complex web of intrigue, he gradually realizes that his whole research has been a role-play meant to heal him. He learns that he was actually Andrew Laeddis, who killed his own wife after she drowned their three children, and not Teddy, the US Marshal. Mark Ruffalo’s character, Chuck, his sidekick, turns out to be a psychiatrist called Lester Sheehan who was keeping an eye on him.
Martin Scorsese’s film Shutter Island, with its ominous atmosphere and cramped sense of uncertainty about the veracity of what’s happening on-screen at any given moment, builds nicely towards this dramatic twist. Even if Scorsese may not be as fond of the film as he once was, it is nevertheless regarded as a contemporary masterpiece for its thrills and chills.
It shares many similarities with the well-known DiCaprio film Inception, including both being a strong thriller that delves deeply into the mind of a single guy while playing with the audience’s assumptions. It also has a conclusion that, like Inception, is first unclear and confounding because it leaves room for interpretation. We’ll analyze the movie’s conclusion and how it fits into the overall plot of this piece.
What Does ‘Shutter Island’ Cover?
The film, which takes place in 1954, tells the tale of U.S. Marshal Teddy Daniels (Leonardo DiCaprio) and his companion Mark Ruffalo’s journey to the isolated island of Shutter Island’s Ashecliffe Hospital for the Criminally Insane. After arriving, they start looking into the case of Patricia Clarkson’s patient Rachel Solando, who went missing after being admitted to Ashecliffe for drowning her kids.
The sole lead to the answers is a mysterious puzzle that can only be solved in Rachel’s room. Teddy’s questions only grow as he learns more about Rachel and Ashecliffe. A big storm is approaching that threatens Teddy’s recovery, unsettling dreams, and questions about the facility’s rehabilitation techniques. Teddy soon discovers that there is more to Ashecliffe, its patients, and its doctors than meets the eye.
Shutter Island offers a tonne of twisting fun, particularly when Teddy invites the audience to join him in cracking the code to figure out Rachel’s absence. Although everyone gives strong performances, particularly DiCaprio and Ben Kingsley as the reclusive psychiatrist John Cawley, the setting is the true star of the movie.
The film is virtually oozing with atmosphere, from the desolate, rain-soaked island to Ashecliffe’s numerous dark jail cells and lengthy, silent corridors. Low lighting, a decision made by Scorsese, encourages deep shadows that add to the image and the film’s overall dismal and cramped atmosphere. Although the film’s two and a half hours can seem to drag on, it’s a strong psychological thriller, so it’s time well spent.
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What’s Actually Going on In “Shutter Island”?
Teddy experiences numerous migraines and delusions of his late wife Dolores (Michelle Williams), who perished in a fire started by Andrew Laeddis, during the course of the movie. As his investigation into Rachel’s disappearance wears on, he finds himself searching beyond Ashecliffe’s walls, out to the seaside cliffs and the haunting lighthouse of Shutter Island, just off the coast.
There, he meets Dr. Cawley, who gives Teddy and the audience a rundown of the movie’s events. Teddy’s true identity is Andrew Laeddis, which is an anagram of Edward Daniels, Teddy’s false name, as Dr. Cawley reveals. As it turns out, Cawley’s decision to let Andrew play Teddy in the movie was intended to cure Andrew of his insanity, which resulted from killing his depressed wife after she drowned their children at their lake cottage. Andrew is actually a prisoner at Ashecliffe. He used the alias Teddy Daniels in order to cope.
Lester Sheehan, who pretended to be Andrew’s companion Chuck, and other members of the medical staff also contributed to the intricate charade by feeding Andrew’s fantasies. And his headaches? symptoms of withdrawal from not taking his prescription medication while he was granted permission by Cawley and the other doctors to indulge in his fantasy.
However, Andrew passes out and wakes up in the hospital with Cawley when faced with his horrific recollections and the reality of his situation once more. Although Andrew seemed open to hearing the truth, Cawley acknowledges that months earlier, he and the other physicians assisted Andrew in reaching a similar condition of calm, but that he soon reverted. Cawley cautions that if he regresses once again, they will be forced to lobotomize him.
Things seem to be moving along OK for Andrew at first, but soon he starts to regress. With a hint that he is once more withdrawing into his thoughts and the “Teddy” persona, he starts to discuss his need to leave the island. This was Andrew’s last chance, as Cawley had warned. After a disillusioned Cawley confers with the warden of Ashecliffe, the orderlies of the facility take Andrew away for lobotomization, which would end his lifelong struggle with delusions and guilt.
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What’s Happening in ‘Shutter Island’ at The End?
Oh my. Though that’s a rather grim conclusion, it might not be as definitive as it seems at first. Had Andrew truly had a lobotomy? The final scene of the movie, which lingers on the lighthouse where the procedure will take place, is immensely menacing, and the score that goes with it seems to hint at Andrew’s upcoming operation, but we’re not sure because we don’t see it happen.
Whether it did or not—and there are good reasons to support either conclusion—the former may have been what Andrew was hoping for. After all, he asks Sheehan, “To live as a monster or to die as a good man?” before he is taken away. Essentially, would he rather be lobotomized as a deluded Teddy, his imagined self who never killed anybody, or would he rather be himself, sane Andrew, but someone who committed a crime by killing his wife? Though the conclusion differs slightly from the book, Andrew’s query seems to imply that, given that the surgery would remove his memories of the terrible things he’s done, he might be happy with it. His real objective seems to be peace (with himself and what he’s done), not a life of regret and terrible memories.
More significantly, Shutter Island poses the question of what it really means to be insane, forcing both its characters and spectators to consider what is real and what is imagined. Is there a mental mismatch? Repetitively performing the same action and expecting a different outcome? Or perhaps it’s the never-ending quest to overcome hardship when everyone else tries to pull you down. Regardless of our beliefs, the reality isn’t always clear-cut, just as Andrew’s complicated feelings and mental condition.
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Summary
“Shutter Island,” directed by Martin Scorsese, follows U.S. Marshal Teddy Daniels (Leonardo DiCaprio) as he investigates a missing patient on a secluded mental hospital island. The gripping psychological thriller takes a dramatic turn when Teddy discovers he is Andrew Laeddis, a patient undergoing role-playing therapy to confront his guilt over killing his wife. The film’s conclusion is open to interpretation, leaving audiences questioning the reality of Teddy’s fate and the nature of insanity. Despite mixed reviews, “Shutter Island” is celebrated for its atmospheric tension and compelling narrative.