In Martin Scorsese’s Shutter Island, one of the most recurrent themes within the film is the prospect of the psychological phenomenon of repressed memories. One of the possible reasons that this theme fits so well within the film is due to the plot and setting of where it all occurs. Memory repression is the widely believed yet scientifically unproven theory that traumatic events are intentionally hidden within the depths of a person’s unconscious memory and are blocked because of the pain and angst that they’ve caused to the effected individual. This theme occurs frequently with the film’s main character Edward Daniels (Leonardo DiCaprio), a U.S Marshall who is sent with his partner Chuck Aule (Mark Ruffalo) to Ashecliffe Hospital to investigate the disappearance of Rachel Solando, one of the facility’s most unstable psychiatric patients. The efforts that Daniels and Aule make to find Rachel are next to hopeless due to the lack of evidence, rules and uncooperativeness of the staff. As the film progresses, the search effort and overall environment of the hospital get more distorted, causing Daniels to feel more uncomfortable. Eventually he experiences head and body pains parts of his begins to have painful recollections of his time in the army during World War II despite the fact that he hadn’t given those events much thought before. He specifically relives the events he saw at a concentration camp. Eventually, Daniels starts dreaming about his dead wife Dolores (Michelle Williams) who was murdered. These dreams and visions that Daniels experiences involving his wife get more pronounced as the film progresses and it is eventually revealed that Daniels was actually the one who killed his wife and that he was not a U.S. Marshall but actually the hospital’s most dangerous patient and everyone in the hospital, from patients to the staff were playing along to get Daniels’ confession to the murder. Upon hearing this revelation, Scorsese reveals to the audience how much of Daniel’s memory was being repressed in his subconscious by his own mind which shows how this psychological factor was a main part of the theme.
In order to add emphasis to the moods and emotions of the film, Scorsese implements a multitude of shot types. He uses a close up shot between Daniels and Dolores during one of their last conversations when Daniels asks where the children are and what does she mean when she says they are at school on a Saturday. Scorsese also uses the shot reverse shot method to show Daniels’ confusion and Dolores’ deranged facial appearance. Another shot type that seems to be used is the tracking shot which can be seen when Daniels and Aule first visit Ashecliffe. This is done to show what the facility looks like and also to show the mental state of the patients who live there.
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