Shutter Island (Martin Scorsese; 2010): Intricate Narrative Structure Entailed With Plot Twists.
- Katherine Goodyear
- Jul 16, 2017
- 3 min read
Who doesn't love a psychological thriller? A concoction of insane characters; new developments of narratives that shock the audience, and my favourite in this case, Leonardo DiCaprio. Shutter Island is the elaborate unfolding of Edward "Teddy" Daniels'" (Leonardo DiCaprio) life and who he actually is, without him even knowing. Scorsese has one again done us proud, his sophisticated directing and excellent casting and I must applaud the detailed visuals which make the film more realistic to the eye, with little to none CGI. But that being said, I'm subjective to that point of view, I prefer a film with realistic cinematography and little editing. Nevertheless, films with this genre might not be as appealing to some audience, as the narrative can be seen as somewhat bewildering. The films intention is to make the audience believe that Daniels' story is not as it seems, considering we mainly see the narrative through Daniel's perspective.
Pinpointing on the more detailed parts of the text, characters play the most important role in this text, and this is done to make the audience connect with Daniels. As people who have watched this film know, Daniels is actually Andrew Laeddis, and he has created this persona in his head to handle with the fact that he had killed his wife since she drowned their 3 children. Now considering we are already empathising for him with his "fabricated" life, we are then enduring on more empathetic feelings because we are making the realisation that he had to make it all up to handle the more severe trauma he was actually induced in. This shows true characterisation and intense character development, which leaves the spectator hooked to the character more, thus making us enjoy the film subsequently. The chracterisation is the key strong point in this text, it draws in the audience, keeps their eye on the scree, hoping that there is somewhat of a resolution, whether good or bad.
Other micro-elements such as the jarring non-diegetic sound and the daring lighting makes the scenes eerie and more cohesive to the genre, thus playing on conventions, but using a different way to convey in a more daring way that evokes response from the spectator. I find these techniques fascinating, as Scorsese seems to know what he is doing as per, which subsequently makes the text different from others. My favourite is the drastic changes in lighting. The juxtaposition between the bright flashing lighting which highlights Daniels and also correlates to his personality, which is blinded by the truth. Then this can change to mere ambient lighting from one match, which illuminises minor details in his face, but then also casts a shadow, which once again, highlights his persona and the darkness of the narrative. These subtle changes really do play an important role on the narrative reveal and characterisation without the audience knowing it.
Nevertheless, being a sucker for psychological thrillers, it's merely an opinion, only you, the spectator, can make an assumption for yourself, whether your mind is open to new and exciting films or you stick to what you know best. Only you can truly decide what you love and loath. But as a lover of films, I can assure you that if you get a kick from puzzles, plot twists and peculiar character development, then this film is right up your street.
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