Why are you all wet, baby?
By Ludmila Rishkova
Love it or Hate it is pretty much the word. After all, there were a few grunts and quite a few more “What the Fuck”s floating in the theatre room the second the screen went black. Indeed Scorsese is not exactly the easiest director to digest, but then again if you want an easily digestible experience, you probably shouldn’t have bought your ticket for a movie about a psychiatric institution treating the criminally insane.
Although I haven’t read the book, Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane, I certainly plan on doing so. Scorsese’s take was brilliant and left the Love It or Hate It part entirely up to the audience. The movie offers at least two possible interpretations and the viewer is pretty much left to himself when it comes to making the choice. A brilliant move we don’t see very often in movies and a move which generally leaves the audience shifting in their seats whispering “what the fuck”.
Another strong point is the Scorsese-DiCaprio team who have brought us such great movies as Gangs of New York, The Aviator, and my all time favourite, The Departed. DiCaprio may not be the greatest actor but both men see something in each other that comes out great on screen.
As to the movie itself, great visuals, great plot, somewhat odd dialogue that pushes on the Dickensian sentimentality limits and does not consistently ring true, but then again, Shutter Island is a place where nothing is what it seems, and the persistent search for truth doesn’t always yield crop. It’s a crazy maze reminiscent of H.G. Wells’s The Island of Dr. Moreau, a hint of The Dark Tower - for all of you Stephen King lovers there was that Roland-ish moment when Teddy Daniels wanders in the lighthouse - and smelling not so vaguely of our local Montreal Allan Memorial Institute scandal of 1955.
This goes to say, funny things happen, and the much talked-of ‘surprise ending’ does not seem to be much of a surprise ending after all. It’s but a mind game, except that that one’s on you. A must-see and a must-read.