Island of Secrets (Shutter Island)

Production and Year: USA 2010 Genre: Drama, Thriller Director: Martin Scorsese Screenplay: Laeta Kalogridis Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Mark Ruffalo, Ben Kingsley, Max von Sydow Description: Martin Scorsese’s latest film keeps you on the edge of your seat until the very end. It is therefore difficult to describe its medical plot in detail without spoiling the ending. But let’s try. The film is set in 1954 at a hospital for criminally insane patients located on a picturesque island. A pair of federal marshals—the main character, Teddy Daniels (DiCaprio), and his subordinate, Chuck Aule (Ruffalo)—arrive at the facility. They are there to investigate the mysterious disappearance of one of the patients. Opposing them is the hospital director, Dr. John Cawley (Kingsley), who has no intention of making the investigators’ job any easier. Teddy is a man with a dark past—he is haunted by visions of the murder of guards at the Dachau concentration camp and the figure of his tragically deceased wife. He also suffers from severe migraine headaches. The investigation into the missing woman is not the only reason for his presence on the island—he came here for personal reasons. While watching the film, we are accompanied by a “claustrophobic” sense of dark mystery, anxiety, and the impression of a “silent conspiracy” by the hospital staff against the representatives of the Federal Bureau. A look at mental health and the treatment methods used in psychiatry from many different angles. A film based on the novel by Dennis Lehone, author of, among others, The River of Secrets.