Shutter Island

  (Note this post may contain spoilers to the movie)


A remote island with insanely crazy inmates makes for a terrific place for a psychological thriller.Add to that Martin Scorsese's brilliant direction and cinematography of Robert Richardson (of Inglourious Basterds, The Aviator,Kill Bill.fame) and you have a must watch movie.The music score lacks the punch but brilliant acting by Leonardo DiCaprio and Sir Ben Kingsley more than make up for that.

This movie doesnt use the stereotypical dark eerie atmosphere and elevated music and women with revealing cleavages running around screaming.The sense of foreboding comes naturally and the locales used are perfect.Be it the war fort housing "the most dangerous patients" or the lighthouse or the dark caves on the island.The movie toys with your mind and you feel uneasy since the starting.

I personally like horror films which do not use any supernatural element and rather delve into personal fear.The film starts with a Teddy daniels ( leonardo ) puking in the steamer which brings the Marshalls to the island.The flashbacks and the nazi scenes give you an idea of someone with headaches,someone with an intense deep past....

We are soon greeted by the guards and Dr.Crawley(Ben Kingsley) who is incharge of the island.Their attitudes gives the viewer more food for thought than needed and the whole set up seems suspicious.An inmate has escaped from the island and teddy and chuck are here to investigate the matter.However,soon we discover Dr Crawley has turned uncooperative with the investigation .Everyone seems to be hiding something.

Teddy desperately tries to find the mystery surrounding the island and the activities in the light house. Evidences and clues to a bigger behind the scenes operation begin to appear along with continuous flashes of Teddy's past.Soon he himself is riddled with psychosis.He starts having migraine.It seems the whole thing was a plot."You act like all this madness is contagious." Daniels says to the guard. Is it? Soon we begin to wonder, too, but not before he uncovers the tip of the iceberg and it's not only painfully intimate with his own past but also a mass conspiracy.

Teddy is shown as a man of war and violence as portrayed in various flashbacks. These flashback go on to be increasingly important as the story progresses.His wife keeps giving him clues but he refuses to believe her. We follow Teddy on his quest, through every dark corridor and perilous confrontations. Slowly, we are given pieces to the puzzle, but the audience does not even realize it. For we, like Teddy, are blind. For the moment at least.

Saying more would do injustice to the film.This movie is going to be on my list of best movies of 2010.
I recommend you watch it too.
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