SHUTTER ISLAND by Martin Scorsese
It is after World War II, and U.S. Marshals Teddy Daniels (Leonardo DiCaprio) and Chuck Aule (Mark Ruffalo) are sent to investigate the disappearance of Rachel Solando, an inmate of the Ashecliff Hospital for the criminally insane on the remote Shutter Island. Rachel has been hospitalized here because she has murdered her three children, and she has apparently vanished from her locked room and through another room full of guards. Head Psychiatrist Dr. John Cawley (Ben Kingsley) is attending to the Marshals, and he seems to be friendly and helpful, but the longer the Marshals stay, the more menacing he appears to Teddy, and the situation gets more enigmatic with every day. How could Rachel disappear from a locked room? Is Teddy really the hunter, or has he been lured into a trap and has become the hunted? What happens in Ward C and in the lighthouse? Are there connections to the Concentration Camps in Nazi Germany? And who is patient number 67?
Another Scorsese/DiCaprio collaboration (after The Departed), another cineastic success. Shutter Island is a film noir in the tradition of the 40’s and 50’s Hollywood, inclusive floppy hats, mysteries and a hero with a dark past and tormented soul.
But accolades go not only to Leonardo DiCaprio, but also to Mark Ruffalo and especially to Sir Ben Kingsley for his inscrutable psychiatrist who is as caring and helpful as scary, and to the production design for making Shutter Island and the Ashecliff Hospital another memorable character.
If you like mystery thrillers, film noir, DiCaprio or Scorsese, then don’t miss Shutter Island.
![]() |
![]() |
Shutter Island movie trailer