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Shutter Island

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Robdemanc
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20 Apr 2013, 1:11 pm

I watched this yesterday and I quite liked it. At the end I was not sure if the guy was really suffering delusions or if they were trying to convince him he was.

Has anyone seen it?

I think I will watch it again.



starkid
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20 Apr 2013, 2:06 pm

I've watched it and it's a great movie. I also read the book about a month ago. At first, I thought it was clear at the end that the main character was actually delusional. After he and his "partner" (aka Dr. Sheehan) had a short talk on the steps, Dr. Sheehan gave a nod to the doctor to let him know that they guy was back to believing his old delusions again, so the warden and the orderlies moved in to take him for his lobotomy.

Then again, he went with them so peacefully in the movie, now I'm wondering if he knew that the story about being a U.S. Marshall was delusional, but just pretended that he still believed it so they would give him a lobotomy and end his suffering, because it was so horrible for him to live with the knowledge of what had happened with his family.



Robdemanc
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20 Apr 2013, 2:28 pm

starkid wrote:
I've watched it and it's a great movie. I also read the book about a month ago. At first, I thought it was clear at the end that the main character was actually delusional. After he and his "partner" (aka Dr. Sheehan) had a short talk on the steps, Dr. Sheehan gave a nod to the doctor to let him know that they guy was back to believing his old delusions again, so the warden and the orderlies moved in to take him for his lobotomy.

Then again, he went with them so peacefully in the movie, now I'm wondering if he knew that the story about being a U.S. Marshall was delusional, but just pretended that he still believed it so they would give him a lobotomy and end his suffering, because it was so horrible for him to live with the knowledge of what had happened with his family.


Yes it seemed that way. But another thing puzzled me. When he arrived back after seeing that woman in the cave and asked the chief doctor where his partner was, the chief doctor told him he had no partner and was here alone, so that doesn't add up if they were playing along with his delusion. So it made me wonder if they were trying to convince him he was delusional so they could section him and not let him leave the island.



starkid
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20 Apr 2013, 2:35 pm

In the book there is a scene that, if I recall correctly, isn't discussed in the movie. When the two Marshalls go to search the island after the storm, the partner Dr. Sheehan messes up some part of the acting script. He has medical records for Andrew Laettis that he is supposed to show, but he loses them or something, I can't remember. So he has to act fast and he decides to just disappear, and so everyone has to change that part of the script, but they don't want to end it completely because the doctor is so determined for the whole thing to end the delusions.



Darkone101
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20 Apr 2013, 11:09 pm

The thing I never understood was the boat ride to the island. Was that in his head or did they take him off the island and returned?



Robdemanc
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21 Apr 2013, 4:03 am

It seemed too elaborate. If only the chief doctor and the partner were in on it then that would be acceptable. But the film showed that all the island staff and the inmates (patients) were in on it too, which seems too unbelievable.



starkid
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21 Apr 2013, 4:47 pm

Robdemanc wrote:
It seemed too elaborate. If only the chief doctor and the partner were in on it then that would be acceptable. But the film showed that all the island staff and the inmates (patients) were in on it too, which seems too unbelievable.


It was elaborate. The doctor was desperate to avoid having him lobotomised. It had been planned for some time, as it had to occur during a storm in order to fit the delusions and they had been waiting for one. I don't see why it would be unbelievable that the staff were in on it; they're just employees and they follow orders. As for the other patients, they weren't in on it. I think another part that was left out of the movie was when the doctors explained to the main character how he had misinterpreted what the patient had said to him in order to fit his delusions.



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22 Apr 2013, 1:57 am

DiCaprio was crazy as an outhouse rat.

-Bill, otherwise known as Kraichgauer