It's been done so many times before. So many. He's just crazy. The end. Strangely enough, the delusions and hallucinations in the film ''A beautiful mind'' were more convincing than the ones in shutter island. I for example was shocked that his college room mate wasn't ''real''.
share(Spoilers ahead)
The movie was shot in a way where it is very hightened with a lot of clear dream sequances and some hallucinations... Even the music in the intro scenes as they arrive on the island are are very over the top for this reason... as is the strange editing, with discontinuities like someone drinking but without holding a glass and such...
The twist is nice, but it is not the whole point of the movie, rather it is a way to structure a climax so that the main question, of whether he decides to live with the knowledge of his nature, or to be lobotomised becomes the real conclusion of the movie... I think it worked...
A Beautiful Mind is more convincing in how it hides the nature of the paranoia and such, but I think the purpose in that movie is to have empathy for Nash and for his wife and others... The purpose in A Beautiful Mind is to show the subjective point of view of Nash and to try and understand him... It's not just a narrative device used for some other reason as is in Shutter Island. The twist is used for a different reason... We're not really trying to understand Teddy in Shutter Island in the way we are with Nash
https://www.theguardian.com/film/filmblog/2010/jul/29/shutter-island-ending Yeah, the twist is the "whole point of the movie," at least it is the gimmick meant to make people watch it a second time. A Beautiful Mind is so much better, and so much closer to a true story.
shareAnd it’ll continue to be done. It’s the execution and overall impact of the film that matters. In this regard, I knew it was coming since before I even watched the film. Honestly, I thought the trailer didn’t make much of an effort to hide the strong possibility that he was a patient there. Did that ruin my enjoyment of the film? The first time, kinda. But after multiple views, I gotta say its atmosphere, performances, and direction make it worthwhile.
While on the subject, I agree about A Beautiful Mind. Being an otherwise conventional film though, how could you not be shocked by what is revealed? But yes, it’s done effectively.
Well, not exactly, kellie. The movie provides just enough ambiguous details to encourage watching it a second time. https://www.theguardian.com/film/filmblog/2010/jul/29/shutter-island-ending Not nearly as good as Momento (2000) or the Sixth Sense (1999), it's still one of the first "big budget" movies with a superstar actor to do this. Momento, and all other examples I can think of, were small budget films. If the plot was careful and thoughtful enough, it had the potential to be a masterpiece. As it is, there are just enough clues to encourage watching a second time, and many people did- I believe it was the top grossing movie of 2010. Unfortunately, there are plot holes in both the theories that the hero really is (Oops my goof! "a US Marshall...")EDIT: aware he is in treatment, or that he is back to being a completely delusional mental patient. Neither one makes sense, and perhaps watching it a second time is simply not worthwhile. But the film could've been better and more accurate in respect to mental illness. Delusions aren't a state where you are completely unaware of reality, or become overwhelmed with guilt when lucid. When a patient becomes aware of their delusion, they tend to (rightfully) blame their illness, not themselves. (I was a therapist for a few years and my ex-wife was briefly at the real life Medfield State hospital before it was closed, and where the film was shot) So, you're kind of wrong saying "he's just crazy. The end." The movie was purposefully made so that you can't be sure at the end. It's not so much derivative as just bad.
shareWhat are the plot holes that make you think that Teddy is or could really be a US Marshall?
shareOh sorry! I got mixed up myself, it was so long ago I saw it. The main debate is whether he has really relapsed into insanity at the end or if there's a moment of awareness at the end and he's willingly getting himself lobotomized. I'll change my comment.
"However, before he falls into the clutches of the lobotomists, he utters a line that isn't in the book. "This place makes me wonder," he asks, "which would be worse – to live as a monster, or to die as a good man?"
For some, this is to be seen as no more than the rambling of a madman. Others, however, take it as meaning that Andrew's only faking his relapse."- The Guardian, 2010
That was another unrealistic movie that took so many artistic liberties, it makes your head spin - it's a lot like making Marie Curie look beautiful, ravishing and have a cute nose, when in reality, she looked like a manboob monster that escaped from the Black Swamp of Horrors.
Almost none of the story happened the way the movie depicts, and hallucinations of people are not quite like that, and so on, but whatever. It's also a pointless movie, because it's ALSO based on a ridiculous twist, or 'twist' that leads nowhere.
I do agree that the WAY they displayed the psychosis was more INTENSE, almost explosive, and sort of 'convincing-while-having-an-eerie-quality-about-them'. I mean, when they suddenly bust in the door and take him to the radio and whatnot, it's so jarring, but yet believable, and at the same time, it feels very OFF in a really spooky way.
I grant you that THAT is very well done in that movie, and THIS movie could have used some of that, but all this movie has is strobo lights and over-exposure and lots of slowly flying papers and other crap in the air, because that is what visions, dreams, memories, trauma look like.... NOT.