Shutter island - film review

I think that Shutter Island is best described as a psychological horror film. It's the most recent film by Martin Scorsese starring Leonardo DiCaprio. They had previously worked well together on the departed. Shutter Island is based on a 2003 novel by Dennis Lehane.

The film tells the story of Edward Daniels, a U.S. marshal who is sent to the Shutter Island asylum for the criminally insane to investigate the disappearance of a patient. He has an ulterior motive in visiting the island. He wants to find Andrew Laeddis, the pyromaniac who murdered his wife.

The film looks good and the plot is full of interesting twists and turns. As a doctor I enjoyed the elements of the film that dealt with the history of psychiatry. Daniels also suffers from recurrent flashbacks to his experiences during the Second World War when he was involved in the liberation of Dachau. I remember visiting Dachau on a school trip as a teenager and the horror of the place stayed with me. Daniels is worried that human experiments, similar to those that took place at Dachau, may have been performed at Shutter Island.

I enjoyed this film a lot and I'm intending to watch it again at some point although I admit that I had worked out the twist before I saw the film. My friend, who knew less about the film was more surprised by the ending.

Worth seeing.