Shutter Island

Question: The children in Teddy's hallucinations were bloody but they died by drowning. Is this just an inference to Andrew's guilt that his children's "blood is on his hands" because he didn't seek treatment for Dolores' mental illness? Or is it Scorsese being overly dramatic and adding a lot of blood where it doesn't belong? Also, how exactly did Andrew kill Dolores? Did he use his service revolver, even though we don't hear the shot?

MovieFan612

Chosen answer: I think the recurring blood comes from the blood of his wife when he killed her. there was a lot of blood you see, in his psychosis that means a lot and has taken over a large part of his hallucinations, just like Dachau camp. Yes, he did shoot his wife Dolores, in the belly. You can see it in the end of the movie.

lionhead

Question: The woman that writes "run" on Teddy's note pad, was Ben Kingsly trusting this "crazy woman" not to tell Teddy or even let it slip that the whole thing was set up for him? Same question goes for every other crazy person in the institute that Teddy speaks to.

dan coakley..

Answer: Teddy belonged in Ward C. He would have never met any of the patients.

Chosen answer: The other patients were not let in on the arrangements. They would have had no reason to suspect that anything at all had been set up for Teddy. As far as they're concerned, if they're cognizant enough to be concerned at all, Teddy's just another crazy guy acting as crazy as all the rest of them.

Phixius

Question: Why does Teddy have a cut with a plaster (band-aid) on his forehead throughout the film?

Answer: The bandage is a symbol indicating when and when not Teddy is caught in his delusions. When the bandage is on he is delusional, thinking he is the marshal finding out all the dark secrets of the facility. When the bandage is absent he is lucid and aware of his past crimes and his own delusions.

Wrong. It's on the whole movie until he takes a shower. The bandaid is off but yet that's the scene where he runs in the lighthouse thinking he's the Marshall still. Did you watch the movie at all?

Answer: He was in an altercation with the patient in ward C prior to returning to ward C and talking with him again. It was an injury sustained in the past due to that.

Scott McClure

Question: One of the corrections says that a particular scene is one of several hints throughout the movie that Dicaprio's character is having delusions about the whole thing. What other scenes shows evidence of this?

Answer: In the beginning of the film when the 2 Marshalls were coming of the boat - Teddy's partner had a hard time removing his gun from his holster when asked, which isn't in keeping with an experienced Marshall.

If you go back and watch the film again the women that writes ‘run' in his notepad ask for a drink of water but when she takes a sip of the water her hand is empty. I take it as another sign of andrew's delusional mind.

Chosen answer: Because she knows that Teddy is really Andrew, who is an inmate/patient, and she knows that the whole FBI agent scenario is a farce. She is trying to warn him to get away while he has a chance during the charade of the "investigation" of the missing patient.

MovieFan612

Question: Was the woman in the cave scene Teddy's imagination?

Answer: Yes, she was part of the imagined conspiracy.

Question: Is he actually sane at the end? I ask this because it looks like he makes them think he is insane so they will give him a lobotomy, and in that way he could forget about killing his kids indirectly.

toby1kenobi

Chosen answer: I think it's meant to be ambiguous, as nothing's explicitly stated either way. My take was the same as yours, namely that he'd rather die as a good man than live as a monster, to reference the line he says, but him still being actually insane also fits.

Jon Sandys

Deliberate mistake: During the interrogation scene, a patient asks for a glass of water. When she receives a the glass of water, she lifts her right hand to her mouth and makes a drinking motion, but is not holding a glass. A moment later she sets down an empty glass with her left hand. When the camera angle changes, the glass has become half full. This implies the patient's mental instability and adds to the surreal feel of the film.

AtomicSkunk

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Trivia: When Teddy enters the lighthouse, as soon as he begins to climb the spiral stairs, the camera follows his movement from in front of him. However, as Teddy and the camera wind around the stairs, the wall behind also appears to move with them, as though what is REALLY moving is only the staircase itself, rotating on its central axis. Yet another point (added to the various disappearing glasses/bottles) that adds to the general 'insane' feel of the film.

More trivia for Shutter Island

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