Directed by: Martin Scorsese
Starring: Leonardo Dicaprio, Mark Ruffalo, Ben Kingsley, Michelle Williams, Jackie Earle Haley, Max von Sydow, Patricia Clarkson, Ted Levine
We first encounter U.S. Marshal Teddy Daniels (Dicaprio) meeting his new partner Chuck Aule (Ruffalo) as they take the ferry to remote Shutter Island, which houses the Alcatraz of mental institutions. This is my description, not the movie's. When you witness the cold, dark halls, the dank basement imprisoning the most violent offenders, and the craggy rocks acting as a natural barrier to the foreboding waves of the sea crashing into them; the allusions to Alcatraz are inherent. It seems nearly impossible for someone to escape the island, but Teddy and Chuck are investigating an institutionalized child murderer who has gone missing.
Teddy may not have been the best choice to send to Shutter Island. He is a man haunted by his past and his visions of the Dachau concentration camp which he helped liberate near the end of World War II. Hallucinations of a young woman and her child follow him, and Teddy believes by finding the escaped child murderer he will somehow free himself of his past. A simple investigation delves into darker, seedier aspects of the island itself. Is the hospital conducting secret experiments on its patients? Is the island part of a greater, more sinister plot? Teddy and Chuck want to find out, but one wonders how far they are willing to risk their sanity to accomplish their goal.
Martin Scorsese may not seem to be the ideal director to examine the horror show that is Shutter Island, but he is the ideal director to delve into what tortures Teddy. We know there is more to the story, but we can't pinpoint it, except that what is tormenting Teddy's psyche has little to do with experiments or evil doctors. Teddy just barely clings to his sanity as he runs into dead ends following by illuminating clues, but we inquire how much sanity he had to begin with. Have the pressures of the job combined with the horrors he has witnessed finally cracked him?
Dicaprio is a sympathetic center for Shutter Island. We feel the walls of the place closing in on him even if we aren't exactly sure why. There is the terrifying feeling he may soon be engulfed by the institution, with the ferry to freedom not too far off in the distance. The investigation itself soon devolves into a morass of twists, turns, false starts, and false finishes. One clue leads nowhere, while another may lead somewhere Teddy may be reluctant to go, but he must venture there if he is to discover the truth. Chuck (Ruffalo) seems immune to the craziness of the island. He views Teddy's struggle as a distant outsider, and maybe because his professional duties dictate that he must.
The man who holds the key is Dr. Cawley (Kingsley), whose benevolent personality may conceal sinister intentions, or hold the key to the truth of Shutter Island. Even in the face of an investigation and caring for the most violent of the criminally insane, he remains unflappable. How could this be? Isn't he the least bit concerned that a U.S. Marshal is investigating a disappearance from his inescapable institution? It appears no, and there are reasons why this is. The clues and red herrings are soon tidied up, but not happily. This is not a movie meant for a happy ending, but instead for a plausible explanation which may shock some viewers on first viewing, but upon second viewing makes sense of all of the names, faces, and visions flying around. Is Shutter Island among the best of Scorsese's films? No, but it is well-crafted and has the courage to stay on its path, no matter how sad it is.
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