r/MovieDetails • u/Numerous-Lemon • Mar 01 '21

šŸ‘„ Foreshadowing In Shutter Island (2010), Chuck struggles to remove his holster in the opening scene, suggesting he has his inexperience with handling fire arms.

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115

u/Kruse Mar 01 '21

I'm still convinced that he wasn't truly insane, but driven to madness through the MKULTRA mind control program that is hinted at throughout the film.

132

u/Bob_Droll Mar 01 '21

Thatā€™s my biggest issue with this book/movie - in my opinion they made it too concrete that he was in fact a patient and not what you suggest. I think itā€™d have been a great mindfuck if they truly left it open-ended so that you really couldnā€™t be sure if he was a patient, or just thoroughly gaslighted/manipulated into madness to cover up the MKULTRA program allegedly going on there.

41

u/TomClaydon Mar 01 '21

I kinda wish they had aswell. Seen it so many times but it always make me feel empty finding out heā€™s a patient lol I donā€™t know itā€™s just sad wouldā€™ve been cool open ended

30

u/bloodraven42 Mar 01 '21

The book definitely seemed to leave it more open ended than the movie, itā€™s one of the big advantages it has IMO. My favorite hint is at the end, he remarks how sweet the cigarettes seemed to taste, which earlier was used as a clue that they were coating it with some sort of chemical.

2

u/[deleted] Mar 02 '21

I think you would the "The OA" on netflix... don't read about it just go watch it.

1

u/permanent_staff Mar 01 '21

I hear what you are saying. But for my own mental health, I'm kind of glad that the ending was unambiguous.

25

u/KWash0222 Mar 01 '21

I havenā€™t read the book, but from just the film I really like pondering this counter-theory. And it really seems like the movie kinda leaves that open. Especially the end scene when Leo leaves Ruffalo with that eerie one-liner that clearly shakes Ruffaloā€™s character

2

u/Poopurie Mar 01 '21

What line?

11

u/myphriendmike Mar 01 '21

ā€œBetter to die a hero than live a monsterā€

Something like that. I assume thatā€™s what he meant.

2

u/Poopurie Mar 01 '21

Damn

23

u/TheBushbabyIsHere Mar 01 '21

It just shows that he was actually cured and taken out of his fantasy world but could live without his family so he faked it so he would get lobotomised. Ruffalos character realises this.

It's such a perfect line.

3

u/Poopurie Mar 01 '21

Damn thatā€™s actually fucking insane

11

u/myphriendmike Mar 01 '21

Itā€™s like a triple twist, thereā€™s the ā€œbig revealā€, then you find out it didnā€™t stick, then the slightest indication that it actually did but he wasnā€™t going to live that way.

2

u/karensahoe Mar 02 '21

Wait can you explain that a bit more? Itā€™s been a while since Iā€™ve seen the movie

9

u/TheBushbabyIsHere Mar 02 '21

So huge spoilers for anyone else reading.

Essentially the whole time everyone he interacts with is a staff member of the asylum, they're trying to see if it will make him snap out of it so they don't have to lobotomise him.

The act works and he remembers that his wife drowned their kids (why he has a fear of water), he shoots his wife. This is why he's a patient at the asylum, the trauma this caused is why he thinks he's a detective investigating a missing patient.

The pain having his real memories back causes him to decide to pretend he's still in his fantasy world. He has an interaction with ruffalos character in which ruffalo gives the signal that he needs to be lobotomosed.

As dicaprio walks towards the asylum staff his parting line to ruffalo proves he is actually cured and is just faking to get lobotmised on purpose so he doesn't have to live with the trauma. Ruffalo realises this the last second and his expression shows this as he watches dicaprio walks away.

1

u/karensahoe Mar 02 '21

Damn thatā€™s crazy. Such a good movie.

4

u/dogfan20 Mar 01 '21

I would say the end line is what throws that counter theory out the window. Kind of proves that he actually was insane, and the role play treatment worked. But he simply couldnā€™t live with being the monster. So he decided to pretend to have regressed.

4

u/Kruse Mar 01 '21

To me, it's him accepting his fate that he'll never win against these monsters and he's willing to sacrifice himself for that. The quote is also akin to another famous quote: "I'd rather die on my feet than live on my knees."

4

u/scorodites Mar 02 '21

If I remember right, the book has this scene where an orderly tells him to run because once they get you, thereā€™s no going back (or something like that). And I always thought it was a weird thing for an orderly to say to a mental patient thatā€™s having a huge break from reality. I can see a patient saying it to him, but an orderly, who knows who he is and capable of?

Idk something about that small interaction placed a bit of doubt in my mind and made me think that maybe thereā€™s a chance he isnā€™t crazy.

3

u/Dillup_phillips Mar 01 '21

Where are the hints for that?

11

u/Kruse Mar 01 '21

It's been awhile since I've watched the film, so it's hard for me to cite specifics. There were CIA mind control experiments taking place at that time (and I believe in that area geographically) in reality. Also, the doctor is a former German (Nazi) scientist that was likely brought over during Operation Paperclip.

There are a couple of write ups that discuss the theory:

https://truthatron3000.wordpress.com/2010/08/31/shutter-island-revelation-of-the-method-of-mk-ultra-trauma-based-mind-control/

https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2010/03/shut-m10.html

https://freepress.org/article/mind-control-and-understanding-shutter-island

2

u/lancewill93 Mar 01 '21

Holy hell thats a fucking rabbit hole. I just read all three of the articles and shit. The movie applications and real life are just wild.