“Remember us, for we too have lived, loved, and laughed.”
Instead of "Abandon all hope, ye who enter here", it is this curiously compassionate quotation that greets U.S. Marshal Teddy Daniels (a grim Leonardo Dicaprio) as he is ushered into the labyrinthine madness of Martin Scorsese's Shutter Island. Fitting for a Scorsese picture, another primary theme of the film is "God loves violence", as voiced by the enigmatic warden (Ted Levine) of über-ominous Ashecliffe Hospital.
Daniels is clearly damaged goods, as from the word go he's painted as a cracked, suffering shell of a man. First seen flailing through a nasty bout of excessive sweating and vomiting aboard a harbor ferry, the Marshal pulls himself together before announcing to new partner Chuck (Mark Ruffalo) that he's still grieving over the loss of his wife in an apartment fire. Certainly enough trauma to shake any man to his core, but Teddy seemingly has much more going on under the hood.
Leonardo Dicaprio Digs Up The Bones Of Shutter Island
Scorsese's spin on Bostonian novelist Dennis Lehane's book is immediately gripping, drenched in mysterious fogs and punctuated by gut churning doom knells courtesy of composer Ingram Marshall (one of the many fantastic musicians on the film's scoreless soundtrack as compiled by Robbie Robertson). It's quite a few minutes before the setup is fully unveiled, allowing the audience to steep in an eerie awkwardness.
It is 1954, and Teddy and Chuck are summoned to the impenetrable island mental facility (a sort of Jurassic Park for the criminally insane) to investigate the impossible disappearance of inmate-slash-patient Rachel Solando (Emily Mortimer). Nobody seems too pleased to have the fuzz in their midst - the deputy warden (John Carroll Lynch) greets their appearance with casual disdain, while the bigwig physicians running the show (Ben Kingsley and Max Von Sydow) immediately come off as shifty at best.
The Bostonian Candidate - Conspiracies And Pain Thrive On Shutter Island
As Teddy explores the location and interviews its denizens, he's often plagued by haunting flashbacks to past traumas - namely the death of his wife and recollected horrors from time spent liberating Nazi concentration camps. As poignant and unsettling as most of this imagery is, at times it can feel as though too much screen time is being spent within these flights of fancy. Also surprising is Teddy's decision to spill his suspicions about the hospital to his partner seemingly far too early in the script.
Thankfully this isn't bad writing but misdirection, as Shutter Island is actually about far more than it initially promises. As Teddy keeps digging through the dirty laundry, it becomes apparent that secret patients, secret experiments and secret ties to shady government ops are all viable possibilities. And just when it looks like Scorsese has painted himself into a corner of clichés, he pulls the rug out from under it all while simultaneously enriching the entire journey.
Solid Writing Keeps Shutter Island From Going Off The Deep End
The Hitchcockian twists and turns found in the final act drive home the thought that Brian DePalma would have turned this same story into an irreparable mess. Credit is thereby due to Scorsese and adapting screenwriter Laeta Kalogridis for keeping their eye on the ball and ensuring that the focus is always on character. While other twisty films like Identity and Secret Window threw curve balls that ultimately betrayed their intriguing setups, Shutter Island's revelations actually inform and deepen the plot.
Not only is the writing top notch, but as expected Scorsese has delivered a stunning work of visual art. He does trot out some of his favored techniques - the whip pans of Goodfellas, the otherworldly white glows of Bringing Out The Dead, the sumptuously rich imagery of The Age of Innocence. But there are plenty of engagingly fresh elements. It is thankfully not merely Cape Fear transplanted onto a Boston Harbor island.
Kubrick Meets Kafka - Martin Scorsese's Disturbing Map Of The Mind
Architecture and heavy weather have often been used as cinematic devices to comment on the human condition, and indeed here hurricanes and creepy, vertiginous hell-holes act as physical manifestations of the characters' addled brains. The gorgeous cinematography by Robert Richardson contrasts the Silent Hill-esque madhouse corridors with the wood-paneled grandeur of Kingsley's opulent living quarters. Stark, color-drained concrete is balanced against the prismatic vibrancy of a stained-glass mausoleum door.
Of course this luscious backdrop would amount to nothing but eye candy were it not for the stellar performances bringing it all to life. Dicaprio is at his best here, delivering heart-wrenching torment with a convincing Boston accent. Michelle Williams, Elias Koteas (in Deniro lookalike mode) and Patricia Clarkson all shine in their supporting roles. And Jackie Earle Haley nearly steals the show as a battered patient having a severely nutty conversation with the mentally deteriorating Marshal.
Shutter Island Delivers Both Scarring Horrors and Lethean Bliss
Thrill-seekers may feel let down by the verbose finale. Others may shut down at the first sight of a twisty climax, having been burned by countless other "shock for the sake of shock" thrillers. But Shutter Island is ultimately a film to savor, and will grow in estimation the longer it simmers in the mind. It's about the blurring of the fragile line separating sanity and madness, civilized behavior and brutish violence. It's a fascinating meditation on the concept that anybody can turn a mental corner only to find they've become "a rat in a maze". And asks if a madhouse is really any worse than a mad world. Grade: A-
- Shutter Island, directed by Martin Scorsese
- Adapted from Dennis Lehane's novel by Laeta Kalogridis
- Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Mark Ruffalo, Ben Kingsley, Max Von Sydow, Michelle Williams, Emily Mortimer, Elias Koteas, Patricia Clarkson
- Running time: 138 minutes
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