Cody Pomeranz, ’11, Sports Section Editor and Hannah Stewart, ’12 Contributor
After reading Dennis Lehane’s thriller Shutter Island, both Cody Pomeranz and Hannah Stewart find Martin Scorcese’s film adaptation to be a sucsess.
CODY POMERANZ:
Overall grade: A-
There’s something odd about Shutter Island, and Teddy Daniels, a U.S. Marshal, is trying to figure everything out. The setting is Boston Harbor, in the Cold War paranoia atmosphere of 1954, at Ashecliffe Hospital, a mental hospital for the criminally insane. Daniels, played by a phenomenal Leonardo DiCaprio, and his new partner, Chuck Aule, played by the always solid Mark Ruffalo, are investigating a disappearance. A patient, Rachel Solando, who murdered her three children, has escaped from her windowless cell that was locked from the outside.
“It’s as if she evaporated, straight through the walls,” says psychiatrist and founder of the hospital, Dr. Cawley, played by a brilliant but eerie Ben Kingsley. But as Daniels begins his investigation, he suspects that Ashecliffe Hospital has secrets of its own. “We haven’t heard the truth once yet, but no one will talk. It’s like they’re scared of something,” Daniels tells his partner. In a time of lobotomies and radical drug tests, one might suspect that Ashecliffe might have something to hide. As a torrent hurricane floods the island, the marshals are forced to stay and continue their investigation. But as the movie progresses, one must wonder, is Teddy Daniels investigating, or being investigated? Daniels’ meeting with patient George Noyce, played by an exceptional Jackie Earle Haley, affirms his suspicions. His other encounter with a certain Rachel Solando, played in this scene by a terrific Patricia Clarkson, is one of the most salient scenes in the film. But Teddy Daniels has ulterior motives of his own. There is something in his past that has brought him to Shutter Island. Something that has haunted him for two years.
Obviously, my plot description is incredibly vague. But it’s supposed to be. Shutter Island is a movie with more twists than San Francisco’s Lombard Street, none of which I want to concede. It’s a mind bender that will give you a headache trying to put all the scattered pieces together. With the legendary director Martin Scorsese (Goodfellas, The Departed, Raging Bull) at the helm, Shutter Island is a shocking and beautiful film. DiCaprio is at his best in an Oscar nomination-worthy performance. His portrayal of the emotionally conflicted Daniels will shake you like no other character before. And his supporting cast is no less exceptional. Where Scorsese’s brilliance shines with the greatest effulgence is in Daniels’ dreams, or nightmares I should say, about his deceased wife, Dolores, portrayed by a hauntingly brilliant Michelle Williams, and Solando’s dead children, which show the true beauty of Scorsese filmmaking.
However, Shutter Island is not perfect. This adaptation of Dennis Lehane’s thrilling 2003 bestseller has its flaws. For one, Scorsese overplays the Hitchcockesque music and aura. Secondly, the movie loses some of its steamroll pace with flashbacks to Daniels’ days in World War II. Arguably the films greatest flaw is its climax. In the book, Lehane is able to brilliantly leave hints throughout the story to the final twist, and seamlessly weaves everything together in a beautiful and stunning conclusion. Let me first say that Scorsese thankfully follows the novel to the T. From the story to the dialogue, to even the tie that Daniels wears, Scorsese doesn’t miss a beat. I found myself mouthing characters’ lines even before they said them. However, Lehane’s plot is incredibly complex. And, to no fault of Scorsese, some of the twist’s flair gets lost in translation as it goes from text to screen. The conclusion’s brilliance is somewhat plagued by tedious, and incredibly lengthy, explanatory narration to help the audience understand the ending. The intricacies of the plot make it exceedingly difficult to portray on screen. But Scorsese does do a brilliant job of laying the same subtle hints that Lehane leaves along the way, creating a thriller that leaves you questioning everything you had believed. The movie’s brilliance is in no small part due to the exceptional cast, a twisty and searing adapted script, and an unprecedented atmosphere of suspense.
Shutter Island, however, isn’t for everyone. In fact, it’s not for most people. Most people want to go to the movies and relax. Shutter Island is a thinker. It is an enigmatic labyrinth that is easy to get lost in. It gives you a headache and forces you to peel back infinite layers of complex twists and turns. Nevertheless, this is a mind-bending film that spins your head at infinite speed, knocks the wind out of, and when you’re beat on the ground, gives you a final punch in the face with a confusingly brilliant twist. Shutter Island is a flawed but beautiful piece of filmmaking. But not even the brilliance of the Scorsese-DiCaprio collaboration can defeat Lehane’s brilliance. Read the novel first, for Lehane is able to craft the story so perfectly that he’ll leave you questioning what happened for weeks. The movie does the same thing, but in a less shocking and more confusing manner. You may not like it the first time, but it’s the type of movie that grows on you (and requires multiple viewings to truly appreciate). You will get lost in the mesmerizing maze of this Scorsese masterpiece, that’s for sure. But be careful when watching this film. There are subtle hints, oddities that purposefully slide below your vision. It’s all in front of you. Everything is hidden in plain sight. Pay attention. For nothing is what it seems on Shutter Island.
HANNAH STEWART:
Actor Leonardo DiCaprio and director Martin Scorcese continue their tradition of working together in Shutter Island. The pair’s best known work is in The Departed, which won for Best Picture at the 2007 Academy Awards. Interestingly enough, this inspired-from-true-life movie about an undercover cop trying to infiltrate a Bostonian mob holds the record for the most swear words in a Best Picture winner, tallying in at a whopping 237. DiCaprio and Scorcese also collaborated in The Aviator (another Oscar-nominated film) and Gangs of New York.
Shutter Island has a tight, succinct plot that is well-constructed. Although a good portion of the movie feels like a wild goose chase where there are more questions than answers, the suspenseful plotlines are wrapped up nicely at the end. I read the book with a vague idea of how it was going to end, but the twist blew my prediction out of the water. The torturous plot and surprise ending translates very well to the screen. Much of the witty and profound dialogue is taken strait from the text. The acting is impressive as well; Leonardo DiCaprio plays the mysterious Teddy Daniels perfectly, and Michelle Williams is memorable in her haunting role as Dolores Chandal, Daniels’ deceased wife. Mark Ruffalo also portrays the potentially deceptive Chuck Aule very well. The movie inevitably leaves out some details from the book that would give it more depth, but other than that, the adaptation follows the novel quite closely. However, there are some visual flaws. Scorcese tries too hard to make Shutter Island scary by playing gory, disturbing scenes repetitively until they feel like a persistent commercial, and the lighting in the background for the majority of the movie is noticeably off, giving the beautifully haunting setting a contrived, artificial feel. Although Shutter Island isn’t nearly as scary as its previews would like you to believe, it’s a solid, entertaining thriller that will keep you on the edge of your seat.
Photo courtesy of nytimes.com.
