Shutter Island

Written by Lara Zarum Saturday, 13 March 2010 13:38

Directed by Martin Scorsese

Martin Scorsese’s latest film, a psychological horror-thriller, gives a whole new meaning to the word “crazy.” It’s 1954 and U.S. Marshal Teddy Daniels (Leonardo DiCaprio) has been sent to Shutter Island’s Ashecliffe Hospital for the criminally insane. He and his partner Chuck (Mark Ruffalo) are investigating the case of an escaped patient (Emily Mortimer). Teddy is a shaky, seasick wreck; Chuck never loses his cool.

Teddy is recovering from the death of his wife (Michelle Williams), who we encounter through flashbacks and surreal dreams which look like they could have come straight out of a Salvador Dali painting. You start to get the feeling that maybe Teddy is suffering from more than just seasickness.

The music signals that something’s not quite right before the first frame is even shown. Coupled with the black-and-white mist of the opening scene, the score sets an ominous tone.But Scorsese hits us over the head with it. Really, we don’t need a symphonic sledgehammer to the brain to understand that an island hospital full of mentally unstable murderers is a scary place. And just in case that wasn’t enough, Teddy and Chuck are told, “We take only the most dangerous, damaged patients.” The island is creepy. We get it.

The thing is, despite the heavy-handed exposition, it really is creepy. The craggy cliffs and rumbling clouds make for stunning images. The movie is filled with creaks and drips, howling wind and the laughing and screaming of patients. Scorsese builds up the elements of the plot at such a basic level of entertainment that you just can’t help but delight at the sheer Nancy Drew style mystery of it all.

The movie picks up steam when the focus shifts from the escaped patient to Teddy himself. His involvement in World War II, in particular, sheds a fascinating light on the dynamic between patient and doctor at Ashecliffe Hospital.

The rest of the movie is a bombardment of one plot twist after another; let’s just say I can relate to Teddy’s persistent migraine. Innumerable influences and allusions weigh down an already dense plot. From The Shining to pretty much every Hitchcock movie ever made, Shutter Island becomes a pastiche of genre and style, refusing to settle on any particular one. “You’re a fucking rat in a maze,” a patient tells Teddy. He might as well be speaking to the audience.

It’s a long, winding path to the movie’s final revelation, but what a revelation! The last 15 minutes are a nice reward for the pure concentration needed to follow this film; this is one of those movies that deserves, maybe even requires, a second viewing.

Like 2002’s Gangs of New York, Shutter Island works best on a sensory level. It’s a visually rich, beautifully directed movie. But, like Gangs of New York, the movie fails to forge a connection between the characters and the audience. It has all the violence, guilt, and redemption of a classic Scorsese, but something about it feels distant. Scorsese has made so many great movies in the past four decades; Shutter Island is, at best, only a good one.

3/5

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