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Shutter Island

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I read the book a while back, which was good. To anyone with half a brain, I think the answer is pretty clear to the following question.

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Matt Rain
That big Indian guy smothers him with a pillow?
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I actually just saw that movie for the very first time about a year ago.

Mudcat
The thing is currently ranked the #240 movie of all time at imdb. Amazing to me.
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All thanks to Scorsese's name, I'm sure. It is #8 (i think) in our blockbuster queue, so I can't say that the movie sucks just yet. But the whole point of a thriller is to remain in suspense. When you guess the ending from the trailer before the movie is even released, something is awry.
 
I think it's getting harder and harder for movies to conceal the whole "the main character is actually dead" theme. Audiences are getting wise to the tricks.

The Sixth Sense nailed it to perfection back in the day.

So many have followed, with varying success. From what I've heard, Shutter Island is a big fail.
 
I was surprised by the ending because I was expecting a least one more twist if not more. Directors normally try to one-up what came before them and you'd expect a guy like Scorsese to do just that. But no.

I know it was adapted from a book, but still. Do the Kubrick thing and deface the stupid book.
 
Robyn
I read the book a while back, which was good.
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I'm curious. In the book, is it the same premise? i.e. - is it all about how they turn this mental institution upside down with an elaborate roleplay based on one thin, speculative theory, and in doing so they purposely set loose this violent, delusional, hallucinating criminally insane convict and let him romp around the joint and fight other convicts and blow stuff up?

If so, do they somehow frame it to seem more reasonable?
 
I don't know about the book, but the movie isn't cut and dry with the trite, predictable story line that Mudcat took from it. I think you can make arguments for both interpretations. It's just a little too obvious to believe Teddy is insane in a role playing exercise.
 
losturmarbles
That Teddy was sane and Shutter Island is a psychiatric ward run by expatriated Nazis.
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correction: that Teddy was sane from the beginning. Even if you choose to believe that Teddy was insane, then you also have to believe he was sane at the end and chose to have the lobotomy to purge the memories of his past. But then that means he was faking the regressing in the conversation with Chuck at the end.

Either way, the conclusion is a little more ambiguous than you make it out to be.
 
losturmarbles
correction: that Teddy was sane from the beginning. Even if you choose to believe that Teddy was insane, then you also have to believe he was sane at the end and chose to have the lobotomy to purge the memories of his past. But then that means he was faking the regressing in the conversation with Chuck at the end.

Either way, the conclusion is a little more ambiguous than you make it out to be.
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It was 100% cut and dry. Rewatch it and you'll see that every scene supports the fact that the guy is insane, from the security guards at the beginning who are annoyed to have to play the game, to that female patient who tells him to run while she's being interviewed, etc. The "genius" of the film is that those scenes become so flagrant and obvious when you watch them a second time. And the Nazi camp sub-story was just one of many red herrings (some of which were quite over the top as Muddy mentions above.)

The only thing that supports your theory is the fact that Teddy willingly gets up at the end to follow the people who bring him to the lighthouse.
 
Matt Rain
It was 100% cut and dry. Rewatch it and you'll see that every scene supports the fact that the guy is insane, from the security guards at the beginning who are annoyed to have to play the game, to that female patient who tells him to run while she's being interviewed, etc. The "genius" of the film is that those scenes become so flagrant and obvious when you watch them a second time. And the Nazi camp sub-story was just one of many red herrings (some of which were quite over the top as Muddy mentions above.)

The only thing that supports your theory is the fact that Teddy willingly gets up at the end to follow the people who bring him to the lighthouse.
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To be accurate, I don't really have a theory. I guess you can say I'm agnostic about it since I can see both sides as plausible. I guess I'm in the minority there, so either I'm giving Scorsese too much credit or I'm just wanting to believe that Teddy is sane. I realize the book is cut and dry about his sanity.

It's funny though, if you think that for them to
Mudcat
... turn this mental institution upside down with an elaborate roleplay based on one thin, speculative theory, and in doing so they purposely set loose this violent, delusional, hallucinating criminally insane convict and let him romp around the joint and fight other convicts and blow stuff up...
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is completely ridiculous and unreasonable, but yet still plausible.

But then not give any validity to the assumption that things just are what they are. That your view into Teddy's reality is really what's going on. That all the over the top foreshadowing was only to influence a certain perception to the viewer comparable to reverse psychology.

Like Bread said before,
Bread
I think it's getting harder and harder for movies to conceal the whole "the main character is actually dead" theme...
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(Or in this case, that the main character is crazy). I just don't buy it. I don't think that's what Scorsese or the screenplay writer was going for.
 
I get what you're saying, but I do believe that the director and/or screenplay writer had only one intent, that is, to tell the story (mostly) from Teddy's delusional point of view, save for that one sequence that reveals the cause of his madness... cause if Teddy is sane all the way through, how do you explain the sequence where he kills his wife after finding his kids in the lake? Where does it come from and what's its purpose? The evil Nazis made it all up to fuck with Teddy's head? That sequence wouldn't be so long and detailed if it was simply meant to illustrate the loony bin director's bogus version of events.

Furthermore, the movie expects naive viewers like me not to catch the barrage of clues that are being served throughout the whole thing by way of the minor characters' acting/body language. We see them as they are and they all act more or less awkwardly in front of Teddy - the guy is so deep into his delusional world that they don't feel the need to be particularly convincing in their role-playing. It becomes very obvious once you watch the movie a second time. Fine acting job by all.

But yeah, the movie's big weakness is that it has to use lots of unplausible red herrings to cover its mystery as long as it can. It does require a fair bit of suspension of disbelief.
 
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