An intelligently made film that delves deep into the Human Psyche

Rating: 9/10 (27 June 2019)

While I first thought of it as being really pretentious, Shutter Island is one of the more interesting (and mind-bending) movies I've watched in my life! Period.
It's not really a movie per se but rather a painting, expressing the multiple shades of human psychology and how heartbreak, betrayal, and loneliness can affect a person and his behaviour towards others.
In the story, U.S. Marshall Teddy Daniels (Leonardo Dicaprio) sets out to find an escaped patient from Ashcliffe Insane Asylum on Shutter Island. He's accompanied by a colleague, Chuck Aule brilliantly played by Mark Ruffalo. Throughout the film, we are under the impression that the main guy along with rest of the staff of Ashcliffe, is behind what has conspired. Gradually, the story gets more and more complicated, each character and his motivations get even more muddled and ambiguous.
Many psychological theories can be interpreted from the character of Teddy himself. It doesn't take long for him to start seeing everyone as his enemy and part of the conspirators. He's unable to trust anyone, not even Chuck who'd become his only confidante in Ashcliffe.
Teddy aims to expose Shutter Island as an expensive, cutting-edge torture chamber. This claim is dumbfounded at the end when it's revealed that everything happening is in Teddy's imagination, who is actually Andrews and Teddy is the result of dissociative personality disorder.
In reality, Andrews had retreated to alcohol to get enough emotional detachment to blind him from the murderous insanity bubbling up within his bipolar wife. This came to a climax when Saturday, an unsuspecting Andrews arrived home from a work trip to his three drowned children and a creepy, suicidal wife (whom he promptly put out of misery)
It's further enunciated that he is suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder due to his days in the army executing the enemy forces, but at the end, due to the twist, that is also rendered unclear. However, it is clear that Andrews is indeed delusional as he had developed an imaginary world of his own in order to hide from his painful past and present life. Thus, he can also be deduced as suffering from Delusional Disorder.
The film excels on a technical level, as well. The shots are immaculate and the atmosphere created by the cinematographer really complements the tone of the film.
Overall, it's a brilliant film which is a must watch for any psychology student who wants to learn about psychological disorders beyond his/her textbooks. The average Joe may be intimidated by it initially but if he/she pays close attention, it's a rollercoaster!