Shutter Island

[Divide by Zero]

I just finished watching this movie and had the same feeling as Heimdallr and cagoule.
As I interpreted it, he was insane from the beginning and in the end he acknowledged what he had done but simply couldn't live with it. So he decided for lobotomy, as he said: "better to die as a good man" (as in, he dies as the good personality he had created for himself), then to continue living with his memories as a monster (Andrew who had killed his wife).

I suppose some of us assumed he was sane, sensing some kind of conspiracy going on with the environment.

Please do check out this video: http://vimeo.com/13398426 SHUTTER ISLAND: AN ARGUMENT FOR SANITY
Some of the clues that he points out in this video are amazing! One very suspicious question: why would the "insane" woman he interviewed later turn up as a nurse?!?

 

[Beau]

One very suspicious question: why would the "insane" woman he interviewed later turn up as a nurse?!?

Because he was using people he knew in real life as characters in his false world. Just as his primary psychiatrist was his partner in law enforcement, the nurse is also inserted into his dream world and represents, in his mind, some confirmation of his paranoid beliefs. At least that's how I interpreted it...

 

[Gertrudes]

One very suspicious question: why would the "insane" woman he interviewed later turn up as a nurse?!?

Because he was using people he knew in real life as characters in his false world. Just as his primary psychiatrist was his partner in law enforcement, the nurse is also inserted into his dream world and represents, in his mind, some confirmation of his paranoid beliefs. At least that's how I interpreted it...

I interpreted it slightly differently. In the end, the doctor interpreted by Ben Kingsley (I can't remember his name now) tells him that in order to try to get him back to sanity they decided to try the most radical strategical roleplay ever tried in psychiatry, that was his last measure before going for lobotomy. That would mean they had all taken part in it. When he was talking to Rachel, the "insane" woman, she seemed to purposefully choose a few words as triggers, for example mentioning that she had swam in the lake. When she suddenly hugged him turning even more "delusional", the doctors grabbed him, not her, to prevent further harm.

Although I think Heimdallr's hypothesis is also a possibility.

 

[Beau]

I think you're right. It was all staged by his doctors to help him understand he was insane. They intentionally inserted people into his false reality that he already knew as a kind of binder to the real world that he was blind to. That's a bit simpler than my interpretation. ;)

 

[Tigersoap]

I may be wrong but I think the way the movie is constructed ( is it all fake, is the character insane or not etc...) is done on purpose to give it different possible interpretations.
We are left to fill out the blanks as we see fit somehow.

 

[JGeropoulas]

SPOILER ALERT!
Shutter Island is an anagram for "truths and lies." One of the more interesting plot points has to deal with the idea that Nazi scientists that fled from Germany ended up working for America after WWII. I must say that it seemed risky to talk about this sort of thing in such a mainstream film and I was proud of Scorsese for making such a bold statement.

I really liked the movie and was impressed with DiCaprio's performance. And that anagram is amazing. How did you discover it? Seems there are several interpretations, so I guess Scorcese succeeded (i.e. making people think/wonder about it all):

A

I think the first 2/3 of this movie was excellent but I was very disappointed with the ending. At the time it felt like it was building up to the uncovering of some big conspiracy theory with mind control and Nazi scientists but then it turns out that Teddy was just crazy.
B
However, thinking back the ending is actually quite poignant. When Teddy states, "which would be worse, to live as a monster or to die as a good man?", I think he is sane but wants to be lobotomized in an attempt to erase his memory.

C

i thought this one was rather good, for the most part, and had me guessing right up to the end. i still reckon it would have been better if the conspiracy was true and they had managed to convince him he was insane! especially as, like it was said above, this same thing has taken place. operation paper clip anyone?

I think its a very good one, symbolized some information or some conspiracy theory such as mind control...
and in my opinion, Teddy is sane, all of those monsters set up the play to try to [drive] him insane, but he had no choice in the end even he realized everything is a conspiracy as he assumed in the beginning...

I go with "C"

 

[TOTEM36]

Just saw this movie. This movie is a great exploration of the concept of dissassociation,
and, helpful in my opinion to get a better understanding of parts of the book by Brabara O'brien "operator's"
and Elnora Van Winkle's work as well.