Ever since one of my former work colleagues would regularly return from meetings describing our working environment as being like "fucking Shutter Island" I have been meaning to watch it to place his comments in the proper context.I think that perhaps he had something of a dim view on the behaviour of some of our colleagues as we follow the story of Teddy Daniels (Leonardo DiCaprio), a former US Marine and current US Marshall, who is sent to a high security asylum for the criminally insane to investigate the disappearance of one of the inmates.
What follows is an enthralling, disturbing and unrelentingly bleak psychological thriller masterfully directed by Scorsese. This is a film which titters on the edge of insanity like the patients themselves keeping you guessing till the end, you may even start to question your own sanity by the end of it.
A truly masterful piece of film making with stand out performances from DiCaprio and the always enjoyable Ben Kingsley as the Machiavellian Dr John Crawley, follows the best traditions of a Hitchcokian thriller. MacGuffins are everywhere laying in wait to mislead you as you try to figure out whether the mind of Teddy Daniels is unravelling or not.
The only problem is that this film is so good that by the time you figure out what is going on the only option you have is to immediately watch it again to catch all the subtleties sprinkled throughout. By the time the movie finished I was definitely relieved that I no longer work on "fucking Shutter Island" anymore...5/5
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