Shutter Island (spoilers abound)

I went to see this film with a sense of apprehension. I am a fan of Scorsese, but it appeared that the critics were calling this film sub-par. When I left the theater I let out a sigh of relief. Critics were still idiots.

Shutter Island is about one man, Teddy Daniels. He is a U.S. Marshall sent to the mental asylum, Shutter Island, to find out what happened to a patient that escaped. Of course, that brief snippet doesn’t come close to the movie’s actual plot or intent.

The best way to describe this film is by saying it convinces you to believe an unreliable narrator. From the first shot of the island and the repeated soundtrack, the film becomes ominous. Something bad is happening on this island, and we want to be the ones to watch Teddy uncover it. The movie plays into so many myths we hold true. The evil psychologists that perform mental experiments. Our distrust for the system. The belief that one man is right against thousands. Scorsese takes these ideas and instills them in our heads.

We see Teddy as the lone hero fighting the system and trying to bring justice where it is due. We are convinced that he is the hero. By focusing almost every shot on DiCaprio, he becomes the only character we can relate to. Sure, Kingsley and Ruffalo give fine performances, but they are in the background. Our hero is Teddy. We want to see him rise above the odds and defeat the evil psychiatrists of shutter island. To cement this feeling, Scorsese presents him as a man ravaged by war and lamenting the loss of his wife. We can relate to this story. It’s almost cliché. It’s almost like some delusional person made this hero story up because they can’t face their own problems…

Yea, we got duped. Teddy made it all up, and we went along for the ride. In truth, he’s just a man who cannot face his problems, and chooses delusion over reality. The whole movie was a role play that the psychiatrists set up trying to bring Teddy out of his delusion and back into the world. So convincing was the setup that I was sitting in the theater believing that a woman lived on the side of a cliff eating food out of cans.

There was a point early in the film where I thought, “He’s probably just a patient.” I was right, but the narrative was strong enough that I questioned this prediction and abandoned it. I believed Teddy. I wanted him to be right. The unreliable narrative is so strong that the audience will not break out of Teddy’s delusion until he is forced to. As Kingsley explains why Teddy is wrong we are still with him, denying the accusations and believing that Kingsley is a liar. The moment Teddy breaks out of delusion we are shown the truth, and only then do we know it is delusion.

The idea of, “He was the patient all along,” is not a new concept. In fact, it is almost trite at this point. The force behind this film is not the twist. It is the force of the narrative and the beauty of the film.