A great Martin Scorsese film to (re)discover
Depending on TV airings and the back and forth between different competing SVOD platforms, big movies come and go on Netflix. This is therefore the case of Shutter Island, crime thriller and psychological horror by Martin Scorsese, with one of the best performances by Leonardo DiCaprio. Shutter Islandreleased in theaters in 2010, it has already been on Netflix, before being released in September 2022. So, for those who want to (re)see it, there is good news since it has been added again to the Netflix catalog on November 1, 2023.

Shutter Island is the adaptation of the novel of the same name published by Dennis Lehane in 2003. Its action is set in 1954, on an island that hosts a psychiatric hospital where mentally ill people guilty of criminal acts are locked up. A patient named Rachel Solando, who allegedly killed her three children, is nowhere to be found and two sheriffs, Teddy Daniels (Leonardo DiCaprio) and Chuck Aule (Mark Ruffalo) arrive to investigate her disappearance. But as the story progresses, Teddy Daniels begins to lose himself between the reality of his investigation and memories of a traumatic past. Not to mention that the hospital staff, patients and even his colleague Chuck Aule behave strangely towards him… Who really is Teddy Daniels and what is he doing on this island? ?

Shutter Island: return and explanations on the ending of the film
Martin Scorsese’s “unreliable” story
Shutter Island is unique in Martin Scorsese’s filmography, because it is a thriller “liar”, where the main character and the audience are manipulated by a deceptive narrative. In fact, Teddy Daniels is not really a police officer, and his real name is not Teddy Daniels… What he believes in at the beginning, his investigation, his partner, his interlocutors, and therefore what the public also believes in – even if from the beginning of the film there are clues that show that appearances are deceiving – it is actually just a dizzying staging to try one last time to reconnect the character with reality and his crimes.
Although the director of wild bull AND Casino he is far from his usual register, he masters it brilliantly the staging of this fictional theater, instilling Teddy Daniels’ great confusion in the minds of viewers. Particularly inspired in this role, Leonardo DiCaprio is brilliant for this fourth collaboration with Martin Scorsese. Around him, equally brilliant is the very solid cast which includes Mark Ruffalo, Ben Kingsley, Michelle Williams and Max von Sydow.
A heartbreaking ending
As in Usual suspects, the “unreliable” model of history, the revelation of the truth is surprising. But unlike Bryan Singer’s film, Shutter Island gradually the veil is lifted and the revelations act as a tremendous build-up of tension to allow the conclusion to be both Machiavellian and moving. In fact, the question of the whole story of Shutter Island is to try to bring the clinically insane Teddy Daniels back to his senses.

If Teddy doesn’t come back, he will be lobotomized. When he is confronted with his own story, with supporting evidence, he appears to be “clean“, recognizing reality. But between madness where he is innocent, and reason where he is aware of atrocities and guilty of a crime, what is the best situation for the character? This is how the last sentence uttered by Leonardo DiCaprio catapults the public a delicious and cruel vertigo :
What would be worse? Live like a monster or die like a good man?
At this point, after previously admitting to Dr. John Cawley (Ben Kingsley) who he really is and what he is doing on the island, he appears to relapse and slip back into his false identity as a police officer. Is he really crazy or has he been groomed and made to look crazy? Having regained his reason, he decides to have himself lobotomized – almost committing suicide – because living with the sense of guilt is impossible for him? The answer lies in this final sequence of Shutter IslandIt’s inside the masterful interpretation of ambiguity by Leonardo DiCaprio…
Source: Cine Serie

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