Mental Illness Commentary in Thriller Story

Rating: 8/10 (11 August 2010)

There is no more fascinating way to present mental illness and its treatment than in a fog of uncertainty and ambiguity. Shutter Island adds mystery and even horror to the mix to create a hit movie from a well crafted novel suspense thriller by Dennis Lehane. Terrific acting by a talented cast led by Leonardo DiCaprio keeps the attention of the movie watcher even as we cannot fathom what it is we are watching. Is this a fantasy? Is it flashbacks to traumatic events? Is this a dream sequence? Certainly, nightmares are included, right? In the end, the well kept secret of Shutter Island, a hospital for the criminally mentally ill, is ambiguously revealed. Like mental illness itself, the story drives home the brutal reality about mental illness, because the causes and hit or miss treatments are often mysterious.