***Official SHUTTER ISLAND Discussion Thread - Page 2

Did Teddy get the idea (of opting for a lobotomy) from the Nazi guy in his dreams who tried to shoot himself? When the Nazi general knew they would be captured he opted to commit suicide instead of 'living as a monster'.

just watched this film, had to come online to get other peoples opinions..

 

this is my interpretation..

 

first of all, i think teddy is genuine, he's been set up to come to this island because his past is perfect. (had his house burned down while his wife was inside, WWII etc..lots of trauma) straight off his 'partner' chuck is supplying his ciggarettes so hes on the bad stuff from the word go. he tells chuck that he's already been investigating the island prior to ariving there, and if secret experiments are going on there then the information teddy already knows is dangerous to the future of the island should he leave with his sanity. lots of mind games are played on him throughout the film, leading to him becoming insane. however, as we know teddy is a very smart man and i believe the drugs/mind games combination wasnt enough to bring down such a strong mind. teddy retains his sanity throughout the film, and eventually decides to play along, as it seems to be an easy way out. remember in the cave..(yes the number of rats was irrational but he's on drugs remember!) rachel tells him that the purpose of the island is not to try and cure insane people, but to 'create' people that can be sent out into the 'real world' to commit acts no ordinary man or woman could. for me this links to the final scene, where teddy says "Is it better to live as a monster, or to die as a good man' the drugs have failed at this point and teddy is still sane and knows if he leaves the island, he may be likely to commit terrible acts, as the island intends its patients to do, so he makes the choice to die a good man (accepting a labotomy by continuing to rightfully claim he is a marshall) teddy is very clever, beats the shutter island system and sacrifices himself in order to save people in the real world who he may have been programmed to kill. ?????? who knows

Interesting idea, but if the people running the island wanted him to go out and do stuff, why would they lobotomize him?

haha since i first posted on here a million other scenarios have gone through my mind..

but maybe they are obliged to lobotomise him simply to stop him spreading his knowledge onto other patients etc, or should he ever escape?

I am not sure if someone has wrote this yet but.... What is so perfect about this movie is not that there is some crazy plot twist, but that it is made to be completely up to the viewer what they want to be true.
Every speck of evidence for either scenario works for both of them perfectly.
I personally believe that Teddy was not at all crazy, but had memories implanted and then forfeit his life at the end rather than live in that evil place.
I also (being biased towards Teddy being sane) believe that showing the lighthouse as the final shot indicates that the conspiracy was real, though i'm sure someone who believes Teddy was crazy could find a way for that to point to their point of view.
Thats why this movie is so great, it''s truly one of a kind in being the only film that I know of, that allows the viewer to decide what was real and what was not, with no inhibitions to their decision.

Welcome to HTF Ian, that's a pretty good first post =)

I'd say Inception matches Shutter in the regard you point to, you can make a case for either possibility and on first blush you might not even realize that the other outcome is just as likely until you really start digging through the evidence or have someone else who took it that opposite direction points it out to you. I'd say Blade Runner also has this effect. Is Deckard human or not?

And it's just that uncertainty that leads to grand philosophical questions of varying orders. What is film. What does it mean to be human. What is truth.

fun and heady stuff. Or you can just enjoy the film if that's your bag.

Don't get me started on Blade Runner!!!

Oh, a button I can push! Poke the bear, poke the bear! =)

What specifically don't you like about BR? The ambivalence? Or something else?

Let me try to put this delicately and un-spoilery. . .the ambivalence of the theatrical cut is OK; it's the unambivalence of the Director's Cut that I can't stand, because if you think about it for 4 seconds, it makes no sense.

Hmm. I've only watched it twice now, liking it much more the second time, but it's always seemed very cut and dry to me what's going on:
Warning: Spoiler! (Click to show)
Whereas movies like the theatrical cut of Donnie Darko, would fail without the mystery behind what's real and what's not, Shutter Island doesn't have that element. You could start with a title card saying Warning: Spoiler! (Click to show) and still have a film heavy with emotional impact.

Then again, maybe I need to watch it again

Winston, I actually haven't seen Donnie Darko (really!), but as for Shutter Island, I agree with your take.