The film starts in 1954 with U.S Marshall Teddy Daniels onboard a ship to Shutter Island which inhabits a mental hospital for the criminally insane. On the ship, Teddy is introduced to his new partner Chuck Aule, and the two of them are on assignment to find out what has happened to a patient, Rachel Solondo, who mysteriously disappeared from her cell despite it being locked and guarded. When Teddy and his partner proceed to question the doctors, they feel that they are not being co-operative to their fullest and that they are hiding something, and the Marshall’s start to feel that there may be a conspiracy amongst them.
Soon after that, Teddy admits to Chuck that he believes in an altogether bigger conspiracy regarding the institution and that is the reason why he fought for this case, as it wasn’t originally given to him. He continues, saying that his wife and daughter were killed by a pyromaniac who lived in their apartment building, he set it alight one night that Teddy was working and his family couldn’t escape. The maniac, whose named Laeddis, disappeared soon after, but word got to Teddy that he was on Shutter Island, in what is known as Area Block “C”. Any investigations made about the said block, seemed to get shut down and stopped immediately, making Teddy question what really was going on at Shutter Island. Chuck starts to think about his theory, and comes up with his own, which is that all this is too easy and strange. What if they made up that a patient was missing, just to get Teddy onto the island, so they could stop his investigating once and for all. When they return to the institution and find out that Rachel Solondo has mysteriously re-appeared, Teddy suddenly realizes his life may be in danger.
Most people who react negatively towards “Shutter Island” seem to get hung up on the fact that the “twist” is far too easy to see coming. While this might be true (the original trailer for the film, gives enough information to assume the ending), the ending isn’t what makes the film. It is true, it is a big part of it, but it also has to do with everything that becomes before it and how it all comes together. It is hard to talk about without giving it all away, but once you know the end, previous scenes mean different things entirely.
This is a film that you will want to watch again, but you can never view it the same as your first viewing, because you have information that you didn’t back then, and in this regard, I’m very happy to report that the film does not fall apart on repeating viewings, in fact in my opinion, it strengthens. What you find is that Martin Scorsese does not cheat once, so much so that the “twist” is never really a twist at all, because if you were in the right frame of mind you would see the truth laid out in front of you from the beginning. To me, this is fascinating, that Scorsese gets us to see what he wants us to see the first time we watch “Shutter Island”, so that the film works as a thriller with horror elements, but once the curtain has fallen and we know the truth and go back to watch it again, our eyes pick up entirely different things than the first time, which make the film work entirely again, but on a completely different level.
This is the fourth collaboration between Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio and it is one of their best (although not “the” best, which goes to the criminally underrated “The Aviator”). As I mentioned in my “Inception” review, I am starting to be quite the Leo fan, and his role in “Shutter Island” only strengthens that opinion. It is an incredibly tough role to play with a lot of emotional undercurrents (this really is hard to talk about without revealing the ending), and I have heard both DiCaprio and Scorsese mention in interviews that they didn’t realize just how dark and deep that this film would be, and how far they would have to go into their souls to pull it off.
Actually, the whole cast does a phenomenal job in this difficult film, and what a cast it is: Mark Ruffalo as Chuck, Ben Kingsley as the head doctor, Emily Mortimer as Rachel Solondo, Michelle Williams as Teddy’s deceased wife (he often dreams about her), and some fantastic little cameos too, from Max Von Sydow, Patricia Clarkson, Jackie Earl Haley, Ted Levine and Elias Koteas. As good as all of these performers are, there is someone who I must make mention of and this person only has two very small scenes. Her name is Robin Bartlett and she plays one of the inmates that are interviewed by the Marshalls, and she is simply outstanding. Everything she does feels so incredibly real, that you are there in the moment with her. When I first saw this film and went on the imdb.com message boards to read other people’s views on the film, I was shocked and delighted to see how many people had singled out Robin’s fantastic work. Her scenes are so small but they carry amazing weight to them.
Being a Scorsese film, you know that the film is going to be technically well made, he just knows how to make films. It was nice to see Scorsese borrow techniques from the old Val Lewton horror films of the 40’s (especially “Bedlam”), as well as throw in a little of Hitchcock as well, but it is easy to see, that this is a Scorsese film, his style is easily recognizable. “Shutter Island” sees Scorsese re-unite with cinematographer Robert Richardson (after one film apart), and as usual their collaboration has brought out some fantastic work (Richardson’s work on the dream scenes are something to behold).
The film looks amazing and as usual when these two artists come together, there are some fantastic camera moves and shots. One that stands out is a tracking shot of a massacre of Nazi soldiers that Teddy was involved in during WWII, the camera moving along as each soldier falls. As graphic as the scene is, it is also quite beautiful (as it is shot while it is snowing and at night).
The only negative I have about “Shutter Island” has to do with the finale. At first, the revelation is explained to us verbally, and after it is finished being told, we then get to see it visually. My problem with this, is that we get the story twice, which I feel is not needed. Being a film, it should have been explained to us visually only, the audience would have been smart enough to get it. I must say though, the part I am talking about, has DiCaprio’s greatest moment in the film. He must go to such a dark and emotionally draining place in this scene, and he does such a stellar job, that it is heartbreaking.
Overall, I just love “Shutter Island” and can not recommend it strongly enough to everyone. Hey, any film that has Ben Kingsley saying the line: “Why you all wet, baby?”, has to be good, right?
Ranked 3 in Top 25 of 2010
No comments:
Post a Comment