Last April 13, Tuesday, I got the chance to watch the advance screening of Leonardo DiCarprio’s latest movie – The Shutter Island, at SM Mall of Asia. I was excited to watch the movie ever since I saw its trailer. I was actually under the impression that it was a horror flick.

The movie  is set in 1954 and is all about US Marshal Teddy Daniels (Leonardo DiCaprio) who was assigned a case in Shutter Island Ashecliffe Hospital. He, together with his new junior partner, Chuck Aula (Mark Ruffalo) were tasked to uncover the mystery surrounding the sudden disappearance of one of the hospital’s female patients. The hospital is a facility created by the government to contain the most violent and dangerous mentally insane criminals.

*NO SPOILERS*

As the marshals conducted their investigation, the doctors denied them permission to see files and other important details of both the patients and the staff. So off they went to scour the island for traces of the missing patient. As they were trying to explore the island, a huge storm came and the two marshals found themselves trapped in an uninhabited house where they took shelter during the raging storm. At that time, Teddy confided to Chuck that he was there for a more personal mission. He was looking for another patient of the facility who has wronged him. At the same time, Teddy told Chuck that he was previously assigned in a war zone during the second world war and that he has had enough of killing people. During the course of their conversation, Chuck was able to make Teddy realize a very probable and yet dangerous angle to the case they were working on.

After the said conversation, the movie continues to build on the mystery as Teddy himself becomes unsure of his purpose, the case, the people around him, his own partner and even his own sanity. There were scenes that you know were only hallucinations or imaginations of Teddy like the visions of his deceased wife speaking to him. At the same time, he had visions of the patient they were looking for and the said woman’s children.

Later on, his gut feel that something sinister is going about in the said island becomes more conclusive when he spoke to a dismissed doctor hiding in the island who told him about the experiments that were being conducted in the said place. Experiments she referred to as being illegal, unethical, inhumane and sinister.

The cinematography is very artistic, especially during scenes when Teddy gets a vision of his dead wife and whenever he is haunted by memories of his time in the war zone. The dark lighting clearly depicts the negative emotions of the lead character over those events. The moving images of people and objects in his hallucinations made me think that he is unable to move on from those ill fated events that took place in his life. Somehow his stay in Shutter Island made all those memories even more alive and vivid.

I enjoyed watching the movie over all. Although some people who walked out of the movie house were disappointed. Well, only thing I could say is that the movie is not for simple-minded folks. Because you will still be puzzled long after you leave the movie house. I’m actually thinking of buying the book some time.

If you like a good mystery movie, and if you have friends or partners who are equally interested in watching mystery films, this film is a good one. You will find yourself talking about it and discussing your own theories long after you left the movie house. Too bad hubby wasn’t with me that night. Hope we can watch it sometime this weekend. Shutter Island’s regular screening in Manila started yesterday April 14.