[flippyshark]

My feeling about the ending of Shutter Island

Spoiler:

I couldn't buy the ultimate explanation. An elaborate hoax put on by the entire staff and many of the patients, just to get some poor dude to drop his protective psychological block? The level of contrivance was so high, I actually left the film confused as to whether that was supposed to be reality, or just Leo's character cracking up - or indeed, a counter-mind fvck to justify keeping him there. Looking back, I guess I was really supposed to buy that an asylum for the criminally insane allowed one of their patients to wander around free and pretend to investigate a fake disappearance, but I'm still resisting that idea for some reason.

Also, it occurred to me that if I had read the novel

Spoiler:

I would have figured out a major plot point very early, because I am usually good at spotting anagrams, and I've already encountered novels and stories where a second identity is hidden in plain sight by an anagram name. Not having it written out in front of me in the movie, I didn't think about it - but I did laugh when Kingsley whipped the cover off of the chart with the names spelled out on it. It just looked silly, like a moment that should have been in a Saturday Night Live skit.

So, ultimately, the plot didn't work for me, and it might be my own fault, but I still enjoyed the atmosphere and the usual formidable Scorsese filmmaking. I was never bored.