Transcription
So Shutter Island's one of those movies that lived rent-free in my head, even though I'd only watched the film a handful of times. After picking up the 4K Blu-ray and revisiting it for this breakdown, I found a lot of incredible details and hidden things in it that seeped into my subconscious on the first watch. And this really elevated the movie far beyond the appreciation that I had for it originally. Scorsese has really crafted a masterpiece here, and throughout this video, we're going to be breaking down why the film is so haunting. We'll, of course, also be talking about the ending and all of the clues that build up towards it.
Now, I was someone who guessed the twist in the first scene on my first watch. Not to brag, but the idea it was all in someone's mind is a trope that's been used in a number of films and shows, like The Twilight Zone, Fight Club, The Machinist, and so on. However, even though I think it can be safely guessed in the opening scene, the film actually goes beyond the twist due to its complex characters and narrative. Even the title itself is layered. Shutter Island being an anagram of "Truth and Lies." If we're really reaching, it can also be rearranged to say "Ted Hunt's Li." With DiCaprio's character going under the name Teddy Daniels. This is later changed up to become Edward Daniels, and we discover that he's actually called Andrew Laeddis, which is also an anagram of Edward Daniels. Later on, when we meet Laeddis, we can see that he has a giant scar across his face that also goes through his eyebrow. One thing that you might not notice is that Teddy also has a cut through his eyebrow, and this was given to DiCaprio by the makeup department to symbolize that they're one and the same.
Now, what I appreciate about the ending is that this isn't a movie where it pulls a twist that upends everything at the end. And instead, it's telegraphed to us in multiple scenes. We start off on a boat rather than a dock, which is where we see Teddy meeting his partner, Chuck. You think that they would meet on the shore, and the fact that it's here shows that this is where the game begins, rather than Teddy being an actual person. Chuck is later revealed to be Dr. Sheehan, and this is actually given away subtly during a moment in which the pair both interview a patient. "Tell me about him. What's he like?" "Uh, he's uh..." Look at this again. And she glances at Mark Ruffalo's character upon the mention of Dr. Sheehan. The scene is actually filled with lots of little details. And behind both a patient and Teddy, we can see two guards. When we cut to the shots of Chuck, there isn't anyone standing guard behind him because, as we know, he's a doctor and not a patient. One of the best moments in the scene is when the patient goes to take a drink from a glass of water. She raises it to her mouth, but if you pause the frame and look closely at her hand, you'll see that there's actually nothing there. We then get a quick cut of her putting the glass back on the table, which is when the fantasy continues. Water is very symbolic in the movie, as we learn that Teddy's wife drowned their children, which is what caused his mental psyche to break down. This is why it's important for the character to start off on a boat, and we're first introduced to Teddy being sick. He says, "Pull yourself together, Teddy. Pull yourself together." And water is very much the first test to start off this quote-unquote simulation. It's later removed from the patient; it did not trigger him, as we can see how devastating it is for the character here.
Now, another thing that you might notice about Teddy is that he has a Band-Aid on his head. We, we, we call them elastoplasts in England, which I'll not force that on you, my American viewers, don't you worry about that. The thumbs-up is right there. Anyway, this symbolically also represents the guilt that he's repressing. Now, the entire situation he's concocted in his mind is very much a metaphorical placing a Band-Aid over the guilt of carrying over killing his wife. Come the end of the movie, it's removed, showing how he's faced up to the trauma and has taken this away. Another nice touch when we see Teddy throughout the movie is that his clothes don't actually fit him. This is something I only really noticed on this watch-through, as I always just assumed that it was the style at the time. However, if you look at the other doctors in suits, you can see that their clothes would have been tailored, and then being ill-fitting on the characters shows how they were likely just grabbed off a rack so that they could be worn as part of the roleplay.
Now, in the background, we can hear the music thumping away, and it might surprise you to learn that absolutely no new music was composed for the film. Every single piece used in the movie is from a library of scores released in the '30s to '50s that Scorsese pulled from in order to add atmosphere. This extends beyond just being nice in the background, and due to the nature of the film very much all being an act by the asylum, it definitely adds to it. I'm sure everyone watching this video has played make-believe at some point in their life and they pretended to be someone that they're not. I used to think I was James Bond, and it pretty much hummed the theme tune in my head the entire time when I was doing it. It was about two years ago, I'll be honest, and I think the musical choices here represent the same thing. This is all Andrew playing along, and the score being pulled from older films adds to his perception of it.
Now, I'm going to be calling him Teddy for the most part, just to stop things getting confusing, and it is important to bear in mind that they are indeed the same person. Chuck asks him if he's got a girl, and we then see flashbacks of his wife. Scorsese says he plays with us during this scene, and we get a cut to the water before getting a freeze frame of her. [Music] She died. This, of course, symbolizes how she drowned their children, and the freeze frame is almost a mental block put in place by Teddy to stop him from seeing the connection. Scorsese says he uses freeze frames in a lot of his movies. The director often does this to make sure we're paying attention to the scene. Teddy then says his wife died during a fire, which, of course, is very much the opposite to water. Now, this shows he's concocted the complete opposite story in his mind in order to save himself from the pain. Fire is very important in the movie as well, and this is shown to us at several points. We discover that Dolores set fire to their apartment as a way to end her own life, which is when they moved out to the lake. However, its usage goes far beyond that. We see Teddy smoking throughout the film, but cigarettes and lighters are always given to him by someone else. Teddy doesn't even have his own pack, which is highlighted to us in this opening scene. "Oh my goddamn cigarettes." "Oh yeah, have one of mine." And the fact they're always lit by someone else is also done for a specific reason. Inmates wouldn't be allowed to run free on the island with a box of matches or a lighter, and therefore, these are kept away from Teddy. Whether he does later get his hands on some when he goes to visit George. "Nice, nice." Now, it's possible that this is even a hallucination by him as he sparks one up, but it disappears when he gets to the bars. He seemingly lights up another one, but this triggers a hallucination of his wife standing in the corner. Fire also gets a major focus in two key scenes later on.
The first is when Teddy seemingly finds Rachel Solando in a cliffside cave. He watches the fire dominate the shot, and it takes up a large part of the frame as the two talk. However, we can see that Teddy's hands are still shaking, and though infused cigarettes are blamed for this, I don't think that's true. We know from the ending that he's not being drugged, and thus, this is suggesting that the fire isn't actually there because it's not keeping him warm. Now, a fire also plays a big part with Dr. Jeremiah, and it too appears in his vision with Laeddis later on. Therefore, I believe the fire is all in his mind, and the water represents the reality, whereas fire represents the illusion that he's given to himself. This is why the lighthouse, where the revelation happens, is surrounded by water, and even Teddy's mission to escape means that he has to go to the dock, which is of course also surrounded by it. Josephus later sits in front of a fire, and Teddy, of course, says his wife died in one, when in reality, it was all connected to water.
Now, beyond this, I also think that the storm is fake too. We have a weird point where he wakes up, and we're told the storm has passed, but we still see a flash of lightning. There's also the damage that the storm does throughout, which destroys trees and parts of the asylum. We visited the courtyard at one point, which looks worse in the YouTube comment section with trees scattered everywhere. Once the truth is revealed at the end, though, we can't see any of this, and there's no way they could have fixed this all so quickly. When they run into the storm, we also get this line from the guard: "Nice night." Which I think, taken literally, shows this good all be made up. Therefore, I think the storm is simply used as a narrative device by the doctors to keep them confined to the island. Storms are, of course, symbolic, as they, of course, bring water with them, and this could very much be washing the island of Teddy's delusions.
Now, upon the shore, we get another clear clue that something is off. This happens when the guards all stand around menacingly looking at Teddy with their guns drawn. [Music] This is at the start of the experiment, and they're naturally apprehensive that he could go wild at any second. "Boys seem a little on edge right now." "Marshall, we all are." Now, upon reaching the asylum, they're asked to hand their weapons over. Chuck has some difficulty drawing his from his holster, and instead, he just hands over the entire thing with the gun inside of it. Chuck is supposed to be a U.S. Marshal, that would have likely drawn his weapon several times, but the fact he can't do this again hints to something being off with him.
Now, in the garden, we get a patient that looks at Teddy, and she does a shush motion. This could be a case of her basically hinting out what's really going on. However, it could go far beyond that. Bits of lore on Reddit theorize that she herself had a lobotomy, and this can be seen by her missing hair. She has a large scar across her neck, bloodshot eyes, and something just seems off about her. These are all signs of a violent patient, and yet she's allowed to wander around the garden with tools that could easily be used as weapons. The only way they'd allow her to do this is if she'd been lobotomized, and the shush motion could be done to warn Teddy that if he doesn't keep quiet, that he could end up like her.
At this point, we meet John Cawley, played by Ben Kingsley. The other way he's presented can make him come across as a villain. He's actually the good guy in all of this. He set up this elaborate scheme to try and cure Teddy rather than going with the lobotomy which the other doctors were suggesting. Now, apparently, they're here to catch Rachel Solando, who we get the backstory filled in on. She killed all three of her children. She drowned them in the lake behind her house. She also believes this place is her home, and in order to sustain the delusion that her children never died, she's created an elaborate fictional structure, and she gives us all parts to play in that fiction. Again, signing back to the idea of anagrams, we see at the end that Rachel Solando changes to Dolores Chanal, AKA Teddy's wife, or Andrew's wife. "And what about the husband?" "He died on the beaches at Normandy." "She's a war widow." Now, we also hear that her husband died during Normandy, and we know that Teddy helped liberate a concentration camp during the Second World War, which also added to fracturing his psyche. He says, "Sanity is not a choice," and this could be hinting towards a choice that Teddy makes at the end. I've always been someone who thought that he was well aware of the monster that he was, and that he decided to spare himself of the pain, but we'll talk about that more later on in the video.
Now, Rachel was apparently locked in her room, but she managed to escape by seemingly evaporating through a wall. This again hints that she doesn't actually exist. And in her cell, Teddy finds an owl under a dislodged tile. The "Law of Four" here, of course, refers to the names being anagrams, and patient 67 is later revealed to be Andrew Laeddis, AKA Teddy. We even get a doctor admiring the "Law of Four" later on and how clever it is, showing how he's in on it. "K. Sol's not the Law of Four. I love that." The search then begins on the bluffs, and here we see some of the guards just sitting around doing nothing. This is because they know that Rachel doesn't exist and that it's pointless searching for her. Teddy also asks what the lighthouse is, and the guard says, "What's in there? More patients. So, treatment facility." Teddy is seen as one of the most violent offenders on the island, and the sewage treatment facility could be the guard basically saying what he thinks of the guy who's going to end up getting his final stage of treatment there. We later learn from Nolan that this is where they carry out the lobotomy, so the line shows what some of the staff think about the criminally insane.
From here, they question the orderlies. "Whoa, is that? Is that? Is that Tommy from Power?" And much like how the patient gave away Chuck was Dr. Sheehan, we see the nurse doing the same thing when she's pressed on him. "Yes, Dr. Sheehan led the discussion." "Dr. Sheehan? Yes, he's Rachel's primary." She glances at Chuck both times, again showing who he truly is. And we're told Sheehan left on vacation that morning on a boat, and this, of course, did a lap and then brought them back to the island. Teddy orders that they try and contact him. However, the storm has apparently destroyed the lines on the mainland, again showing how the storm is used to keep things centralized to the island. The operator here is clearly playing along, and when the trail leaves, we can see him turning around almost as if to check it's okay to drop the act. They then go to Cawley's house, and we see a record playing. This also showed up at the start when Teddy was thinking about his wife, and it's something that later appears with the revelation with the same song being used. [Music] It's also something that he saw in the concentration camp. The fact that Teddy suspects Dr. Jeremiah as a Nazi is a sliver that ties back into his time during the Second World War. Nazi scientists, of course, carried out experiments in the concentration camps, and the doctor represents everything he hates. Interestingly, this piece is Gustav Mahler's Piano Quartet in A Minor. This was actually banned in Germany during the war due to the composer being Jewish. This could be chosen for that specific reason, with it showing the contradictions that exist in the movie. Jeremiah also says, "You have outstanding defense mechanisms." This is true, as well, as Teddy's able to concoct this entire fantasy to defend himself from the truth. He psychoanalyzes Teddy and says that he's a man of violence, which he would only really be aware of if he knew the character beforehand.
Now, when they go to sleep, Teddy has a dream about his wife, who very much tells them the truth. She does this throughout all the hallucinations, and here she says that Rachel is here. This is signifying that she is her, but the way we're meant to take it is that she's still on the island. Water starts to seep from her abdomen along with blood, and this was the location where Teddy shot her. Teddy wraps his arms around her, and this moment resembles the painting "The Kiss" by Gustav Klimt. She also tells him that Andrew Laeddis is here too, which carries a double meaning that sends him off on his quest to find him.
From here, they start questioning the patients, and the first one brings up a glass of water, and then she asks him if she can have a glass of water. They also speak with Mrs. Kearns, who I believe is actually a friend of Teddy's. Like him, she killed her partner, and she seems to want to protect him. When asked if she knows Andrew Laeddis, she gets up and walks out, and she also writes "Run" in the character's notepad. The fact that she does this makes me believe that they were close, and that she was trying to warn him about what was really going on. Look at her reaction with this in mind, and I think it becomes clear that this entire scenario is breaking her heart. "Did you ever meet a patient named Andrew Laeddis?" "No, never heard of it."
At this point, Teddy and Chuck head out, and the former admits he requested the case because Andrew Laeddis lit the match which caused the fire that killed his wife. He's slowly starting to piece it together, and they head to the graveyard as it's the one place no one would notice a body being hid. Teddy tells Chuck about what happened when he reached the concentration camp, and we learn that he and his platoon gunned down the guards that they were supposed to arrest. I'm going to ruin this scene because it was ruined for me, but when we go along the guards right at the end, you can catch one on the floor smirking before he then plays dead. I bloody hope you're blacklisted from Hollywood. You ruined the movie. You and paranoia start to see because it's revealed that Teddy was going to blow the lid on the experiments that were being carried out on the island, thus he starts to suspect he was brought in by the shrinks to get him so that he could stop everything getting out. The fake Rachel is presented to them, and you can see the reactions by the characters as they start to figure things out. "And 42 patients in wards A and B, which means there's a total of what, 66 patients at this facility?" "That is correct." "Yes." Love the little smiles. I do here, almost nodding along like he's finally figured it out. Rachel talks about how she drowned her children, and after telling the story, she starts to act like his wife, foreshadowing the anagram reveal.
Now, that night, Teddy has a dream that he sees Rachel and her child amongst the camp victims. The child stands up and says, "You should have saved us all." And this represents the girl that Teddy feels he failed by not taking his wife's mental issues seriously. She told him about it, but he brushed it off, and this eventually led to their deaths. You also see my man Casey Jones playing Laeddis, who lights up a match and holds it to his face. He is the delusion, and the match being held up this way continues the idea that he's the embodiment of this. Rachel arrives during this and shows him the murder of their children, and Dolores comes in, and Teddy says this line: "Why you all wet, baby?" This actually foreshadows this line later on: "Why are you all wet, baby?" This then pays off at the end. In one of the final scenes, we get, "Baby, why are you all wet?"
The next day, they head into the restricted ward, and they're approached by a guard who does this. Upon leaving, "Get your asses moving then, go on." This is such a creepy moment, and it might even make you think that an inmate has dressed up as a guard. However, in hindsight, he clearly finds the whole game hilarious and is laughing at Teddy and how ridiculous this all is. Eventually, he then comes across Nolan, who gives the entire game away. "It's a game. All of this. It's for you. You're not investigating anything. You're a [ __ ] rat in a maze. A very obvious one, but we're just being thorough." Now, this is the first time that Teddy's been alone on the island, though, and it's important to bear in mind as to why Nolan doesn't keep up the illusion here. Nolan directs him to the lighthouse, and both he and Chuck end up heading out to it. Chuck seemingly takes a fall over the edge, though, with his body lying on the rocks below. This is later washed away by water, symbolizing that it was never real. The thing that pulls him back into the illusion is the fire from the cave, which is where he meets the quote-unquote real Rachel. She says, "You were a nurse. I was that Dr. Marshall." This is clearly her commenting on her actual role and why she's been given such a high-profile role in the illusion. She blabs on about how the island is secretly trying to build super soldiers through brainwashing people and removing parts of their brains so that they feel nothing. That morning, we see Teddy asleep, and there's another flash of lightning, even though there's no storm, again hinting at things being off. Picked up by the warden, my man Buffalo Bill spouts off about violence. He tells Teddy that he's as violent as they come. Upon making it back to the mainland, we see the patients that Teddy interviewed earlier. They are clearly pointing at him, and even the guards tell them to stop looking at him so that they don't give the game away. "Listen closely for sure." "Looking." "Stop looking at him for sure." "Stop looking." "Stop looking at him." They clearly say "stop looking at him." And Cawley says that someone got so wound up by Nolan's stories that they beat him up a couple of weeks ago. This is revealed to be Teddy, and we discover later that he called him Laeddis, which is what broke him.
It's revealed that this exercise has been carried out before with Teddy, and it worked, but he regressed, which is why they're trying one final time. Cawley also says, "You don't have a partner, Marshall. You came here alone." And Teddy then showers, very much representing the cold reality that he's just been given. He once more runs into Dr. Jeremiah, who fumbles with a needle in his hand. Though it seems like they're trying to drug him because he's exposing what they're potentially doing, this is actually because he's terrified Teddy might lash out. Teddy believes that Chuck has been kidnapped and that they're using him in the experiments. He then sees a vision of Dolores and says that he wears the tie because she gave it to him, but that it's ugly. Nice way to say thanks for the gift. He ends up using it to destroy a car. Once more, shedding a part of his past. The fire washes over his wife and daughter, but they don't die, and thus it once more hammers home the idea that this element represents an illusion. Before it blows, he sees what's apparently Rachel's daughter, and she walks over to Dolores. This is actually her child, and this is another clue that it's the pair who are related. Teddy dives in the water before swimming to the lighthouse, and this is very much a baptism that reveals the truth. Cawley then starts to bring everything to light, with Chuck revealing that he's actually his doctor. They want to avoid the lobotomy, as they think that if the pair come to the revelations of what they've done on their own, that they'll be able to heal themselves without the need for surgery. Teddy, or well Andrew, I'll call him that from now on to stop the confusion. Andrew grabs his gun and fires away, which makes it seem like the doctor was hit. The fantasy keeps him for a split second, but it fades, and the gun is revealed to be a toy. Andrew is then shown the corpses of his children, including his daughter Rachel, who he dreams about nightly. She tells him that he could have saved her, and this is the final thing that makes him realize the truth. But watching the scene play out, we see Andrew [ __ ] his wife. He wakes up in a scene similar to The Wizard of Oz. Everyone is around his bedside, including the nurse who played Rachel originally. We learn that Andrew created these fantasies because he couldn't face up to what happened with his wife and also their children. He blames himself for all of it because he refused to get his wife help, and it seems like there's finally been a breakthrough. However, one way or another, Andrew wants to hide the truth from himself. The regression was carried out because he couldn't face up to it, and realizing that he'll now have to live with it, I believe that he plays up the fantasy once more so that he'll be lobotomized. When he sits down with Dr. Sheehan, he says to him that he has to go back to the mainland and calls him Chuck. It's a heartbreaking moment, and watching the performance that Mark Ruffalo gives here really carries the scene. Just the subtle nod to the dark tells us so much, and we see the defeat wash over him as he realizes his more gentler tactics have failed. Andrew then says this, which would be worse: to live as a monster or to die as a good man? And it's a line that I think will haunt everyone who sees this movie. I think it's said to Chuck to let him know that this kind of approach worked, however, he cannot live with himself, and it's just too devastating. He willingly walks forward to his lobotomy, and had he really been in the fantasy, I don't think the character would have carried this out, but it's what Andrew wishes to do. And we end the film with a shot on the lighthouse, summing up his fate. It's something that's stuck with me since I first saw it, and I hope you've enjoyed a retread through the movie and all the clues in it. Obviously, I'd love to hear your thoughts on the film, so make sure you comment below and let me know. I know there's people who think Teddy does go back into the fantasy at the end rather than it being a choice, so let me know below what you think, as there's a hell of a lot to talk about. Now, if you want something else to watch, then make sure you check out our breakdown of Memento, which will be linked on screen right now. It's a really great, in-depth video going over everything in the movie, and hopefully, I'll see you over there right after this. By the way, I've been Paul. This is the Heavy Spoiler Show, and I hope to see you next time. You take care. Enjoy 2023. All the best. Peace.