I watched Shutter Island a few days back so I decided to write a review about it today. It is no doubt one of the best movies I have seen. The plot is so interesting which keeps you engaged till the end of the movie. The cast is superb. The environment is stunning and gives a creepy and mysterious feeling for all the time. After watching this movie, I have become even a greater fan of Leonardo DiCaprio :D
So, the movie starts as the two US Marshals, Edward Daniels a.k.a Teddy and his new partner Chuck Aule, reach the Shutter Island located in Boston to investigate the disappearance of Rachel Solando, a mental patient residing in Ashecliffe Hospital for insane criminals. She is accused of murdering her three children by drowning them in the lake beside her house.
The only clue left for them is the note left by Rachel which reads: "The law of 4; who is 67?". During investigations, Teddy concludes that the staff has some part in Rachel's disappearance and confronts them, but the staff is not supportive at all. Meanwhile, Teddy is haunted by the visions and dreams from his past and of his dead wife. The lead psychiatrist, Dr. John Cawley, refuses to hand over patients' medical records and Rachel's personal Doctor, Dr. Sheehan, has left the Shutter island for vacation.Teddy gets suspicious of the behavior of the staff and to add fuel to the flame, one patient during investigation sends Chuck away and writes "run" in Teddy's notebook secretly.
The plot takes a turn as Teddy starts having migraine attacks and visions of her wife, Dolores Chanal, who tells him that her killer Andrew Laeddis and Rachel Solando are still on the island. Teddy continues his investigation along with chuck with a motive of finding Laeddis also. His suspicions grow as Rachel is brought back by staff with no explanation of how she survived in a fierce storm and where she was. So at last he decides to visit the forbidden Ward C for clues. There, he is separated from Chuck and meets George Noyce who tells him that this asylum is experimenting on people and sends the incurable to lighthouse(the forbidden place where most delusional and dangerous patients are residing according to the hospital) for lobotomization. He says that all of this was a drama including Chuck to target Teddy and eliminate him after proving him to be a mental patient, meanwhile the vision of his wife asks him to leave the shutter island as soon as possible.
Teddy decides to visit the lighthouse along with Chuck who decides to tag along despite of Teddy's insecurity. Once they reach the cliff from where they become separated, Teddy meets a woman living inside a cave claiming to be Rachel Solando. She tells Teddy that she was a Psychiatrist at Ashecliffe and was falsely accused of killing her children when she found about the mental experiments going on in the asylum. She asks Teddy to leave soon and when Teddy returns to the hospital and asks Dr. Cawley about Chuck, he denies the presence of any Chuck and claims that Teddy arrived the shutter island alone. This confirms Teddy's suspicions of the whole scheme.
Determined to find Chuck, Teddy breaks into the light house only to find Dr. Cawley inside. He explains that Andrew Laeddis is actually Teddy himself, the most dangerous person admitted in Ashecliffe and resident of Ward C, arrested for killing his mentally ill wife after she drowned their children. So, Edward Daniels and Rachel Solando were anagrams of Andrew Laeddis and Dolores Chanal and the law of 4 explained this. He explained that all of this was role-played so that Daniel accepts the reality and migraines were effects of withdrawal from medicines. Later Daniel accepts the reality and remembers what actually happened. Dr. Cawley tells him that he had achieved this state before but quickly regressed and that this was his last chance. In the ending scene, Andrew calls Dr. Shaheen Chuck again, depicting that he has gone back to his Teddy self. Just before taking him for lobotomization, Andrew asks Dr. Sheehan,"Which would be worse? To live as a monster, or die as a good man?" giving the audience a hint that he might still be himself and telling Dr. Sheehan that their method succeeded but he doesn't want to live knowing the bitter reality.
Shutter Island keeps you guessing till the end and even though the ending is twisted, it doesn't spoil the whole plot. I don't get why many people are giving it negative reviews. Even though it has some flaws, it is beautifully directed. I give this movie a rating of at least 8 out of 10. For purchasing the movie, follow the below link :)
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