Shutter Island
Posted on June 8, 2010 at 8:00 am
Dennis Lehane, author of gritty crime novels like Mystic River and Gone Baby Gone and one of the writers of “The Wire,” and director Martin Scorsese, best known for movies like “Goodfellas” and “Casino,” about wiseguys, hitmen, and omertas, have come together for “Shutter Island.” While it is less a crime story than a horror-tinged psychological mystery, this, too, is about murder and madness, the difficulty of separating truth from lies, about twisted motives and anguished fears, and about the devastating consequences of unthinkable pain and loss.
Set in 1954, it begins when a murderer confined to a hospital for the criminally insane has not just escaped; she has disappeared. She was in a locked cell and then she was gone.
In the midst of a huge, gusting rainstorm, two federal marshals investigate, Teddy Daniels (Leonardo DiCaprio) and his new partner, Chuck (Mark Ruffalo). The hospital, once a Civil War fort, is on an island off the coast of Massachusetts and when the storm knocks out all power and phone lines they are completely isolated. The marshals get soaked in the rain so they change into the only dry clothes available — orderly uniforms. They begin to look as though they belong there.
The hospital is eerie. The doctors are smooth but uncooperative, with an unsettling way of diagnosing not just the patients but the marshals — they seem to think that they are the ones who are asking questions. The patients cannot be trusted. But can anyone?
To say any more about what happens would be to spoil it. So, I’ll just write a bit about about some of what goes on around what is happening to the characters.
The first is just the pure pleasure of seeing a master film-maker showing us everything in his power after a lifetime of watching and making movies. No one in history has ever been more passionate about film than Martin Scorsese and that is clear in every placement of the camera, every cut from his full partner in film-making, editor Thelma Schoonmaker, and every element of the set from his “Casino” production designer Dante Ferretti. The camera tracks through the dank corridors, the blade-like steps of the circular staircase, the driving rain and sheer cliff, telling us just what Scorsese wants us to know and no more. Each shot keeps us inside Teddy’s thoughts and the shifts between the objective and subjective are handled with a consummate understanding of the language of cinema.
Next is the choice of the setting, not just the island but the era. We see Teddy frequently thinking back to his traumatic experience at the liberation of the concentration camp Dachau. Teddy and the doctors are very much of their time a crucial one in the development of psychiatric theories as three camps — surgical, pharmaceutical, and talk therapies competed with each other and this adds another layer of interest to the proceedings.
Finally, this is a movie where everything feels like a metaphor, a clue, or both at once and every single detail is a part of the story. The intricacy of the story reaches a meta-level about the power of stories — to harm and to heal. It is an expert thriller with plenty of chills and jumps and goosebumps but finally it is the questions it raises about our ability to trust the characters and our own conclusions that will haunt us.
? It is not exactly a classic. It is probably best remembered as an early effort from people like teen-ager Josh Brolin and director Richard Donner who went on to more successful and prestigious projects. But it inspires a lot of devotion from the generation that came of age in the 80’s. 
” with Joan Crawford’s Oscar-winning performance. The movie is about time travelers who travel back in time to witness disasters. They are found out by a man and his daughter who attempt to stop the disaster from happening, or at least limit the number of people who die in the disaster. Don’t remember who was in it. Thanks.That is “Grand Tour: Disaster in Time” with Jeff Daniels.Can you please tell me the name of the Rom-Com….I just remember its plot…there was a doctor (I think dentist) who is supposed to have some lucky charm…so every girl with whom he sleeps gets the man of her life…he also had a friend who was a plastic surgeon…I have seen that movie but today when i was telling my friend about it i was am not able to recall it…Thanks.That movie is “
” (1966).This was a movie about 4 children who lose their mother and they try to hide it from the system hoping to keep their family together. The oldest daughter has an attraction to a well-to-do bachelor. He eventually gets sick and the 2nd daughter treats him with natural medicine by putting him in the bath-tub and smothering him with steaming onions. Then the older daughter marries this bachelor who is way older then her. I saw this movie in the late 60’s I believe.That is “Where the Lilies Bloom,” based on the classic YA novel.About a year ago, movie, on TV. A guy had a couple million dollars in a European bank. Another man, a look-alike, plotted to go to the bank in person and have the money transferred to his account. To get the information he needed to be a credible impostor, he hired a beautiful woman to hustle man one and find out as much personal ID information as she could.They fell in love, yet she followed through begrudgingly. Man one, deeply in love, was demolished at finding of her involvement, and they separated sadly. Of her own love for him, she ended up killing the impostor she was hired for. In the final scene, a most-moving scene, they met in an open city square and tenuously approached, and were reunited.I believe you are thinking of “Deception” with Hugh Jackman and Ewan MacGregor.I’m trying to get the name of an old black and white movie of Barbara Stanwyck. I thought it was called ” A Man of Her Own” Anyway she is a young woman, pregnant , unmarried, on a train. She goes into the bathroom and meets another young pregnant woman who is married and also pregnant, who is traveling to meet her in-laws for the first time. This woman takes off her ring to wash her hands. Barbara asks if she can try it on.There is a train wreck. A lot of people are killed. Barbara wakes up in an mansion,of the married woman’s husband’s family and they mistake her for their new daughter-in-law.She tries to tell them the truth…I hope you can help me find this good old movie. Thanks, CherylYou almost had it right! It’s “No Man of Her Own.” I love that movie. But avoid the awful remake called “Mrs. Winterbourne” with Shirley MacLaine and Rikki Lake!What is the name of the movie about a young boy whose father is in the Navy. He and his mother move, I think to New Mexico. Boy meets tom boy girl. Getting to know each other they dare to touch a dead bloated cow. Girl goes first runs up and touches the cow and runs back. Boy runs up and trips and runs head first into the stomach of this bloated cow. Would appreciate any help. Thank you.That’s “Red Sky at Morning” with Richard Thomas — great movie and great 
.My sister told me about a film set in France – she thinks it only has one name. It is about a cleaning lady who paints beautiful pictures at home. Her employer unexpectedly visits her and sees the paintings and is surprised when she tells him she is the artist.That is “Seraphine.” It is based on a true story.Two men kidnap a little girl and then they come to care for her. There is a song in the movie, “When Sarah Smiles.”The movie is “Savannah Smiles” and the song is “When Savannah Smiles.” I remember watching a movie with my dad when i was younger. It was an old comedy about a sportswriter that wrote a book about fishing and camping etc. He did not really know how to do any of these things and when he was forced to go on a trip with a girl..he had to read his own book to try and learn how to fish etc. I remember him trying to cast the line at “10” and release at “2.” What is the name of this movie?I love that movie! “Man’s Favorite Sport?” with Rock Hudson and Paula Prentiss. Hi, I’m looking for a movie. I don’t remember the name but it was about a school with arrogant and disrespectful students like they discriminate others.The black side and the white side.Then there come a teacher who wants to help them but she lost her husband because of that but help these students. I don’t remember the name but I think it was a true story called written or it had something about written in it. Please help me, thanks.That is “
, a great film, with Thandie Newton, Noah Taylor, and an early appearance by Nicole Kidman as the girl’s schoolmate.