Shutter Island

Saw it last week and it's been haunting me since.  I'm surprised people aren't raving more about this film and shocked at some of the backlash.

(SPOILERS)

I haven't read the book, but this is a brave movie.  It dives into dark places few films dare to explore.

While stylistically Shutter Island is "classic horror/suspense" that proudly borrows from Hitchcock, the story is more of a slow excavation of human tragedy.  The kind of minor catastrophe that regularly graces news.  Those "Breaking News Stories" that make you wince and label someone a monster in the next breath.  Stories that have become cliches and conceal the true complexity and pain of what happened.

Martin Scorsese has never really directed a true genre film.  His work has almost become a genre in itself, blending (and blurring) conventions at will.  Even his Cape Fear remake tackled drama, (comedy?), suspense and horror in equal doses and steered clear of simple classification.

Shutter Island is perhaps easy to dismiss because of it's refusal to do what audiences and critics might crave or expect.  It's a film that's unflinching and hard to watch at times -- but this aspect is critical to the narrative.  Just as Teddy Daniels can't side-step the truth, neither can Scorsese.  And the audience isn't off the hook either -- we also have to look and discover what happened that day.

Somehow, the narrative remains satisfying and hopeful in end.  I'm not sure exactly why, but I guess there's something brave about facing the truth and consequences of a terrible destiny.  And Teddy becomes a poor man's Sydney Carton in the end, fully able to make the ultimate sacrifice after resurfacing from madness.

And the wonderful final credits mashup of Max Richter and Dinah Washington may also have something to do with striking the right tone at the end.