Martin Scorcese is arguably the greatest living director in America today. Over his illustrious career, he has documented prolific artists in rock & roll history (“The Last Waltz,” “No Direction Home”), “defined” New York (“Mean Streets,” “Goodfellas”) and captured the disturbed human psyche (“Raging Bull,” “Taxi Driver”). It is this last category that I would like to focus on when discussing his latest project, “Shutter Island.”
“Shutter Island” follows U.S. marshal Teddy Daniels (Leonardo DiCaprio) as he investigates the disappearance of a patient from Boston’s Shutter Island Ashecliffe Hospital (for the criminally insane) during 1954. That much you probably have deduced from the onslaught of advertisements that have been running close to a year now (the film was pushed back from its original October 2009 release). The less I say about the actual plot, the more you will appreciate the film.
“Shutter Island” is based on the novel by Dennis Lehane, whose books focus on the themes of loss and human tragedy primarily in the Boston area (“Mystic River,” “Gone, Baby, Gone”). Though “Shutter Island” initially leads the viewer down the path of the investigation unfolding, Scorcese dedicates the film’s underlying mystery to the motivations behind the inscrutability of the human brain.
Having watched DiCaprio grow from a young man to a true actor, I am amazed by his integration into a difficult role, especially considering that this is the first time I have been able to suspend my disbelief and forget his off-screen persona. I can say without a doubt that this is the role of his career thus far. Scorcese builds the tension from the film’s inception. Along with his team of professionals, Scorcese builds a true sense of foreboding highlighted by the stylized, claustrophobic shots, creepily authentic locations and set design and an effective use of music.
Though “Shutter Island” may not be the best film of Scorcese’s career, he has delivered the work of a master craftsman. He has taken a story that foundationally appears as pulp but underscores it with insight into humankind’s psyche. A-
Ari Silber is a Loyola MBA student. Before graduate school, he worked for nine years in the Los Angeles film industry, focusing on marketing, publicity and distribution. He can be reached at [email protected]
