SHUTTER ISLAND (2010) Ending Explained + Analysis

[Music] hey everybody welcome to found flicks on this sending explain we'll be looking at one I know you guys have been begging for shutter island' the twisty thriller set on a remote island near Boston that is home to the criminally insane this movie is absolutely exceptional on all fronts especially the way the story unfolds it really makes us feel along for the ride with the marshal obsessed with finding the truth which he does even if it's not the truth he's expected first and foremost shutter island' continues the always legendary team-up of star Leonardo DiCaprio and director Martin Scorsese that began with gangs of New York of course Leo gives an incredible performance as usual going to extremes of emotions and really makes you feel for his characters painful journey on the technical side the cinematography by longtime Scorsese and Tarantino collaborator Robert Richardson is perfectly moody and the dream sequences include some absolutely breathtaking memorable images we also can't forget about the set design of the ash cliff hospital that really enhances the feel of the movie and the design was created based on specifications of a doctor who actually worked at a similar facility in the same period as the film then of course there's a story itself which not only includes a memorable devastating twist but also has a lot of other layers going on with it to explore as well and unlike most twists kind of movies shutter island' is designed for multiple viewings as Clues are littered throughout you'll most likely miss on the first watch all that to say the movie is awesome and definitely worth watching first as this video will be presented more from the perspective of already having multiple viewings under your belt so let's begin our analysis of shutter island' breaking down everything about the story the hidden details throughout as well as explaining the ending while our main story is that of our protagonist Andrew uncovering the secrets of the institution ash cliff is actually playing a part in a much bigger story than it first appears involving the evolution of psychiatric care at the time the story takes place in 1954 in the field of therapy there was a war of sorts amongst doctors about how to treat the mentally insane particularly those with violent natures too many contemporary doctors these patients were considered no longer human or monsters and unable to be cured which led to the rise of lobotomies used on the patients to make them easier to control in docile this real wife movement was spearheaded by one doctor in particular a doctor Freeman who would actually travel the country visiting mental hospitals and performing lobotomies on the more troublesome patients in the film this old-school perspective is represented by Max von Sydow as doctor nari who has no compassion for his patients believing them to be subhuman on the other hand a more modern philosophy of treatment began to emerge and counterbalance to this this perspective represented by dr. collie played by Ben Kingsley who believes in treatment without the use of painful surgery or simply drugging the patient into submission but by treating them with care and compassion to hopefully cure them or at least help them face their issues at the core of their madness it's this debate that constructs the story of the film collie and narrowing using a particular patient of theirs to try out a radical new kind of treatment at Callie's behest an extremely elaborate roleplay therapy which he hopes will allow them to break through to their most dangerous and violent patient a disturbed man by the name of Andrew ladies who suffered a total mental break after the death of his wife and three children andrew is unable to deal with the reality of what has happened and the truth that he murdered his wife in his case in order to suppress it his mind created an entirely new personality Teddy Daniels along with a fantastic narrative about the tragedy to block out his pain while the deaths of his family caused this break Andrew was first haunted by his time serving in the Army during World War two one particular incident during the clearing of a concentration camp called Dachau sticking with him long after he's horrified seeing piles of dead prisoners in the snow all taken out by the Nazi forces knowing they were on their way the commander attempted to kill himself and is found by Andrew bleeding out on the floor from his wound Andrew stares coldly as the man dies considering him a monster for killing all those innocent people this being a big factor of what Andrew feels later after this the troops round up the remaining German soldiers and brutally slay them but was this justified for what they did or a simply murder these horrific sites never left Andrews mind and upon returning to the States and his wife to Lloris and three children he began to drink heavily to put his mind at ease seeing that he drinks to avoid confronting his problems this comes back to bite him as he also avoids telltale signs that Dolores is mentally ill refusing to believe it and get her treatment things first reach a dangerous level when she writes their apartment on fire in a suicide attempt but again instead of getting her help Andrew moves the family out to a lake house hoping a change of scenery and getting out of the city might be enough for Dolores this proves to have tragic consequences when Andrew returns home from working a case as a US Marshal and discovers Dolores completely soaked Andrew asking why are you so wet baby when looking to the lake he sees why spotting the bodies of his three children floating in the water curiously he swims to them but it's too late all three are dead drowned by Dolores whose mental illness has taken over completely and in her distorted mind she believes that killing her children is actually helping to save them Andrew is devastated especially knowing he was avoiding the truth about Dolores his illness overwhelmed with guilt and anger Andrew shoots his wife and kills her now completely alone his entire family dead understandably this is the tragedy that breaks Andrew mentally creating the Teddy persona in a form of dissociative identity disorder teddy is similar to Andrew both are u.s. marshals but teddy is unburdened by this horrible event in his past and as a result it is completely mentally blocked out by Andrew pushed into the subconscious while the Teddy persona takes over after the trial regarding the murder of his wife Andrew was sent to ash Cliff a hospital for the criminally insane where he stayed as a patient for two years and what Andrew has to do in order to get better is come to terms with the memories that he has worked so hard to avoid only after accepting the painful truth will Andrew the original man be brought back during his stay at Ashe cliff along with the Teddy persona came an extremely elaborate fiction related to what happened in Teddy's mind his wife was killed by a different man called Andrew ladis his real name but to his shoe guilt has manifested another person entirely as being responsible for her murder this person is not real but part of the fantasy constructed in Andrew slashed Teddy's mind in a addition to this as andrew is suffering from hallucinations rather than believing the hospital staff are who they actually are has also created new roles for them as part of his fantasy narrative this brings us to the events of the film where dr. collie stages an elaborate roleplay as one final desperate attempt to break through to Andrew getting everyone in the facility involved each playing a part to actually feed into Andrews fantasy the intent is to lead him through his fantasy and play into it at every step to prove to him that it's not real in the end bringing him to face his past to hopefully bring Andrew back this experiment is what we see unfolding over the course of the film the roleplay begins with Andrew heading towards the island again playing a US Marshal supposedly sent to the island in search of missing patient called Rachel the fictional equivalent to his wife in reality as well as his daughter's name even from the very beginning we see how much Andrew blocks specific things in reality that are connected to his family's death with two main obstacles here it's water he literally can't handle the sight of water due to how his children were drowned so he tries to block it completely what you couldn't really do out at sea so the water all around the boat is causing him to violently throw up he's not seasick it's the water itself there's also fire tied to the first suicide attempt by his wife and throughout the film up to a point Andrew never directly interacts with fire having others light his cigarettes consistently he can't stand the sight of it either because that's how much he's blocked it out of his memories of course they can't leave Andrew a violent patient on his own so he's teamed up with a partner someone teddy has never met before but inherently seems to trust this is because he is also part of the fantasy in real life he is Andrews doctor here playing the part of his partner Chuck this is why they get along right off the bat andrew has actually met him while a patient while Teddy has not and since Chuck's not really a US Marshal he fumbles when he's told to hand over his gun to the guards because he's not familiar with handling well Andrew who at one point was a u.s. marshal has no problem at all showing us early that things aren't what they might seem to be on the surface another clue to this is when they arrive they are surrounded by several heavily armed guards keeping a close eye on Andrew because they know he actually the most dangerous patient in the facility and has caused trouble with them before hits the heavy artillery they take Chuck and Andrew to meet dr. collie who as mentioned is trying to progress the methods of therapy and is the mastermind behind this entire experiment and when asked about the missing Rachel the journey for teddy begins a strange mashing of reality and fiction telling them that Rachel mysteriously escaped mentioning she killed her three children telling him that Rachel a patient for two years doesn't believe she's in an institution with the staff playing roles in her fantasy which is actually referring to Andrew in reality Rachel doesn't exists at all but is also a part of Andrews own fantasy he goes to investigate her room finding his first clue left by colleague a note from Rachel with two seemingly random phrases written the law of four who is 67 this cryptic message is part of the mystery set up by Kali which we learned the meaning of much later to andis teddy persona the ash cliff facility is what he's actually here to investigate believing them to be doing radical experiments on the patients and tending to find proof of their wrongdoings and blowing the lid off the whole operation and piece by piece this is what appears to Teddy to be going on there again because the entire scenario is staged for this exact purpose this does begin to work to open his psyche to his past having a vision that night of Dolores telling him she's still here Rachel Andrew asks Dolores responding she never left because Rachel and Dolores are actually the same she did indeed never leave Andrews memories she begs with him to let her go but he can't as this is the entire struggle for him personally she turns to ash in his arms as the apartment ignites into flames and water pours after she is gone reverencing both the fire and water that he fears which is especially problematic when a huge storm hits the island and Andrew then interrogate the other patients in Rachel's last session who of course all know who Teddy really is and act a bit weird when he keeps asking if they know Andrew latest they're like that's your dude once again here we see the blocking of reality Andrew is capable of when questioning another patient she asked Chuck for a glass of water which actually at one point disappears from her hand is she showing us from Andrews perspective just how much he can't stand the sight of water and so in his reality makes the glass literally disappear later Chuck asked him about the name Andrew ladies and tatty opens up about who he is within his fantasy describing latest as a maintenance man who worked in their building that set the fire that killed his wife in the fiction Teddy also having no children he says Andrew got away with the murder later going on to burn down a schoolhouse resulting in him winding up being a patient and asked cliff where he was never heard from again he doesn't mean to kill latest though declaring he's had enough of that describing to chuck about his time in World War two killing all the guards deciding that it wasn't warfare it was murder by finding the killer is in his real goal as we know but rather to expose what he believes are the secret mind experiments being performed on the island showing us the treatment is actually to support this fantasy Chuck feeds into his theories suggesting that perhaps they actually wanted him here and faked the escape and feeling the place reeks of black ops even though he's well aware this isn't the truth the next events only established further something odd going on when rachel is randomly found but Andrew isn't so sure of what he's being told noticing she doesn't have a scratch on her which would prove impossible with the island's rough terrain this rachel is yet another de player and Teddy's story a nurse portraying the missing patient who does pretend to be crazy really well as before her story is a blending of fact and fiction not recalling drowning her children and then confusing Andrew for her dead husband Jim asking how she is supposed to survive without him again related in reality to how Andrew needs to let go of Dolores these encounters seem to be a somewhat vague way for Andrew to mentally tap into that barricaded area of his mind by making him think about his past without directly confronting him with it this along with not being on his medication is having a profound effect as the lightning outside increases in intensity a side effect of not being on his meds causing the reality and fiction to blend together even more in Andrews mind as he begins to confront his past finding himself back in the concentration camp where his true pain began but this time the Fallen mother and child turned into Rachel 1 and his daughter who rises up whispering you should have saved me he then peers and colleagues estate and comes face to face with his fictional version of Andrew who lights him a cigarette offering he hopes there's no hard feelings hearing a scream rachel is there covered in blood asking him for a hint revealing three dead children's bodies in front of her he picks up his daughter the same scene at the camp again asking why he didn't save her Andrew painfully sang he wanted to but by the time he got there it was too late shifting to the lake house Andrew seen walking backwards holding his daughter's body and drops her into the water remarking they look beautiful Andrew bolts away still hallucinating as Dolores then appears him asking why she's all wet the same thing he asked when he first saw her he's beginning the first stages of confronting what happened but hasn't quite gotten everything opened up entirely just yet outside the storm has worsened knocking out the facility's electrified fences and all the patients have gotten loose in the chaos Andrew decides it's a perfect time to check out the off-limits ward see where they keep only their most dangerous patients assuming that the killer he's seeking must be there what we end up learning is just how violent Andrew actually is for the first time as a patient tags him running off and Andrew chases him down aggressively punching and choking the man only getting stopped by Chuck who pulls him off geez buddy got some issues there huh he delves further into the facility coming to a series of cells lighting matches repeatedly to see where he's going this is the first time Andrew was seen lighting a match of his own up to this point consistently someone else is always lighting it for him now indicating to us that he is beginning also to confront and control his fear of fire instead of completely blocking it out then another example of his violent nature is seen when he comes across a man George Noyce who plays different roles in Teddy's fictional story and in real life too teddy he was a key part of turning him into the shady goings-on at Ash cliff but in reality is another patient who Andrew knows well and he is actually the one who beat the crap out of noids in their conversation noises truthful and straightforward to Andrew but he doesn't understand what the man is talking about since it doesn't fit in with his fantasy version of the man's story his denial is reinforced when he reunites with chuck who after meeting with noise Andrew doesn't trust as much Chuck reveals he found Andrew intake form something that would prove invaluable in Teddy's case but since reading it would actually break through his fantasy Andrew dismisses it if anything he's becoming even more wrapped up in the supposed conspiracy and fantasy and decides to head out to the mysterious lighthouse on his own believing this to be the location of the facility's secret experiments but can't get to the lighthouse as the tide is too high no way he's gonna swim through that water when he climbs back up Chuck is gone and it appears to him down below that he has fallen to his death his body lying motionless on the rocks but when he gets to the spot the body isn't there because it was never there in the first place especially as he is seen alive and well later this is indicating that Andrews hallucinations are becoming more powerful which explains what happens next as he spots a fire in a cave by the rocks inside finding a woman who also calls herself Rachel but rather than being a patient was a doctor at the hospital that was forced into hiding after discovering their nefarious hidden agenda she details their plans to use lobotomies to create a man to not feel pain or love and their intent is to create an entire army of these ghosts under their control to go out into the world to do things a sane man never would and that everyone in the facility is in on it he inquires about the White House and she confirms what he's been suspecting that it is where these surgeries happen and where these so-called ghosts are created which is completely untrue and this Rachel is only a figment of Andrews imagination his desire to believe the constructed conspiracy theory about Ashe Clift has created her to further confirm everything he wants to believe is going on here and after Chuck's disappearance believes that he has been taken to the White House himself when asking Kali about Chuck's whereabouts his behavior matches this telling Andrew that he came alone and there was no partner and Andrew thinks he's on to calling changing his story when asked again about Chuck responding what partner believing his abduction is simply being covered up and not wanting the doctor to think he's on to him he is entirely convinced that he has to save Chuck from the White House and decides to create a distraction but first is interrupted by another vision of Dolores telling him he has to get off this island removing his tie jamming it into the car's gas tank and lighting it causing a huge explosion that tip really envelops Delores and his daughter though they continued to remain after the fire retreats in his actions here we see that andrew has gotten over one of his phobias fire since he is so driven by the truth he is willing to blow up the car no matter what it takes and soon overcomes his other major fear water choosing to swim across the sea to the lighthouse something only recently he was unable to do thinking he's finally gotten to the truth he will find out he's more right than he could realize but it's not the truth he's been searching for inside the white house instead of finding evidence of brain surgery there is only dr. collie waiting for him behind a desk asking why are you all wet baby to his confusion the same question Andrew asked to Rachel one in his earlier dream knowing this question due to hearing Andrew talk about the same dreams he's been having for years from here Teddy's perceived reality begins to crumble collie asking him about his hallucinations and tremors both of what she says are withdrawal symptoms as he hasn't been on his standard medication revealing to him that he has been a patient here for two years showing him that same intake form that he dismissed earlier describing Andrew as highly intelligent highly delusional and shows no remorse because to him the crime never took place creating a fantasy because he can't deal with what happened clearly describing Andrew himself and if the Teddy persona had seen this information earlier it would have disturbed the fantasy reality he had created calling elements he wishes he could just let Andrew live in his fantasy world but he has those violent tendencies and this is his last chance for a cure if he doesn't have a breakthrough now from insanity his new-age style of treatment will prove a failure and as a result there will be no other choice but to lobotomize Andrew to keep him under control he reveals everything about the elaborate roleplay experiment they've been undergoing letting him have the run of the place only to prove to Andrew how impossible his mentally created conspiracy is asking if he has any actual proof at this point of any wrongdoing transpiring collie then explains the meaning behind the note found in Rachel's room about the rule of four which is related to the fictional and real-life versions of people from Andrews memory his new persona being an anagram or mixing up of the letters of his real name andrew laeddis as well as rachel solando being an anagram of his wife's name and that the 67th patient is in fact himself showing the jumbling of fact and fiction that has been so pervasive in andrew's mind asking about chuck he emerges but is not a u.s. marshal but in fact Andrews primary physician during his stay over the last two years Andrew is torn apart and distraught refusing to believe this could be true firing at Colley which creates an exit wound in his fantasy but in reality the gun is just a toy crumbling to pieces in his hand going for the harder truth Holly confronts him with what Dolores did flashing pictures of his dead children to get him to remember and it's in particular the picture of his daughter Rachel another reason he picks this name for his story that seems to affect Andrew deeply as Holly asked if he could deny she ever lived he emotionally grabs the pictures and a flooding in of the full-on memory of that tragic day occurs and one of the most brutal scenes ever Andrew finally remembering the truth in detail about what happened everything he's been working so hard to keep out for two years overwhelmed he is overtaken by blinding light once again waking up later in a bed overseen by Rachel one here in her true identity as a nurse at the hospital and dr. collie who questions him about his mental state and it does appear that andrew is entirely lucid for the first time and the experiment was able to bring him back to reality Andrew admitting that he's here because he killed his wife and that Teddy Daniels doesn't exist and the most painful truth that he killed her out of his own guilt for not getting her help before it was too late even though this is obviously a substantial breakthrough Holly still has his reservations mentioning they had broken through once before nine months ago only for Andrew to regress to his fantasy once again but he is steadfast clearly grasping the truth this time that his name is Andrew ladis and he killed his wife in 1952 the next day they're still unsure if the switch stuck continuing the role play of the experiment having Chuck really doctor Sheeran join Andrew on the steps asking what's their next move and Andrew goes right back into his conspiracy talk saying they've got to get off this rock and whatever is going on here is that appearing to have relapsed as they worried dr. Sheeran a solemn head shake to the other doctors nearby that the experiment was a failure immediately orderlies marched towards Andrew who takes a moment to consider a question that provides the answer to if he is really cured or not which would be worse the live is a monster what a die is a good man and he has tragically led off to be lobotomised but he isn't reverting back to his delusions as it might appear the experiment did work and now Andrew again understands and remembers the truth about murdering his wife but the unfortunate side effect is that he has to continue living with the guilt of killing her or as he sad to live as a monster which now that he knows the truth again is tearing him apart inside as it did before tying all the way back to his experience at the concentration camp where he considered the commander and monster for killing innocent people but still didn't feel right about killing the other soldiers even if they were guilty for being involved as well certainly a complex moral situation but to Andrew any killing even if it appears justified to some capacity is still wrong but if he chooses to be lobotomised he is effectively choosing a form of suicide after the procedure he won't have any idea of his past at all and will continue to live in his fantasy or die as a good man this to me is the biggest lingering question of the movie does Andrew choose his fate or has he really regrets back to his fictional reality Martin Scorsese and Leo both refused to weigh in on their thoughts on what to live as a monster or die as a man final line means but the way the story plays out makes it obvious he chooses his fate and can't bear to live with the guilt and trauma he has suffered that has all come flooding back to him it also has the unfortunate outcome of seeming to prove that Khali's newer therapy methods fail and proves that Mailer's barbaric old-school methods are still the most viable option yeah the ending is pretty much just a huge bummer no matter which way you look at it even with this heartbreaking outcome I absolutely love the movie especially the way that the story unfolds and the millions of little details in there that add more layers to help us fully understand everything that's going on and yes it is quite confusing leaving the viewer with many questions especially after the first view Scorsese was proud of this aspect saying leaving people with questions would mean they would have to see the movie twice to get all the answers and thusly the movie would make more at the box office it did succeed in this aspect making back four times his budget and up to that point was the most financially successful film of Scorsese's career until it was surpassed by another team up with Leo wolf of wallstreet which grossed over 300 million worldwide and to date remains his most financially successful film this brings us to the conclusion of the analysis and ending is playing for shutter island' I hope I did you guys proud and answered all your questions about the movie but if you still got more lingering things you're not so sure about make sure to post them down below don't forget you can also send me video requests of any kind on my social media accounts at conflicts what did you guys think of shutter island' and it's ending let me know your thoughts in the comments below make sure to LIKE subscribe and follow thanks for watching bound flicks see you next time

Channel: FoundFlix

Views: 3,125,612

Rating: 4.9359088 out of 5

Keywords: shutter island, shutter island ending, shutter island ending explained, ending explained, ending, explained, shutter island meaning, final scene, end scene, analysis, leonardo dicaprio, martin scorsese, trailer, clip, scene, breakdown, story explained, ashcliffe, teddy daniels, andrew laediss, lighthouse, shutter island twist, twist, twist explained, foundflix ending explained, foundflix

Id: OMi_HPn39Zw

Length: 25min 16sec (1516 seconds)

Published: Fri Jul 20 2018