Translated material
Impossibility of an island
Martin Scorsese's new film on Moscow screens
In the early 50s, two investigators, not without adventure, arrive on Shatter Island, where there is a bedlam cut off from the world for especially dangerous criminals with mental disabilities. They must unravel the disappearance of one of the patients, a woman who killed three of her children and disappeared from the clinic in a completely incredible way - Shatter is guarded worse than Alcatraz. Pretty soon, one of these lawmen, Ted (Leonardo DiCaprio), discovers that the hospital authorities are clearly hiding something, and from an unexpectedly planted note it becomes clear that there are at least one more patients on the island than they try to convince Ted. In addition, he begins to be reasonably tormented by the suspicion that he himself did not end up on the island according to ordinary orders; it is here - and clearly not by chance - that a certain arsonist is being held (Jackie Earle Haley, none other than Rorschach from “Watchmen” and Freddy Krueger from the upcoming remake of "A Nightmare on Elm Street"), because of which Ted's wife died at one time.Because the plot of Shutter Island (based on the book by Mystic River author Dennis Lehane) hinges on a Shyamalan-esque final trick that turns everything upside down (and not a very healthy one at that), it would be unfair to go into detail about it. and dishonest towards future viewers. It doesn’t even help that this very “complete turn around” lies on the surface in principle and can be considered even by someone who is not the most experienced in solving cinematic charades. But since DiCaprio’s character didn’t figure out what was really happening on the island until the very end, everyone else will have to be left in the dark. And, putting aside the content, talk exclusively about the form.
“Shutter Island” is most similar to two films - “Ten Little Indians” by Stanislav Govorukhin and “Cape Fear” by the same Scorsese. But if the similarity with the first is no more than associative, then there are more than enough reasons to compare “Cape” and “Island”. Ten years ago, Martin Scorsese filmed John MacDonald's novel "The Executioners" (or rather remade his first film version - John Lee Thompson's "Cape Fear" with Robert Mitchum and Gregory Peck), and he turned out to be a masterpiece - excessive and powerful. The superthriller about unjust retribution seemed at the same time like a blistering pan of just-cooked borscht and like a Rubens canvas on which the paint had not yet dried. At that time, Scorsese had not yet switched from De (Niro) to Di (Caprio), and his swing (completely justified, by the way) towards truly commercial cinema continued to look like the whim of a great artist. In the case of "Shutter Island" everything seems to be exactly the same, but with all the visual luxury (cinematographer Robert Richardson and production designer Dante Ferretti - the combination of these names gives no reason to doubt) and the actually powerful acting work of "The Island" still looks - at least in comparison with the “Cape” - nothing more than a piece of land surrounded on all sides by water. There was an episode in "Cape Fear" that still seems perhaps the most creepy and impressive in the history of world cinema - a scene in the cinema when Nick Nolte's hero, a lawyer, at one time neglected important evidence in the case of the hardened criminal Max Cady (played by the absolutely incredible De Niro), while watching the disgusting film “Problem Child,” he hears laughter from the back row. It's Max Cady laughing. And from this moment everything becomes extremely clear. Unfortunately, there is nothing like this laughter in Shutter Island. And no matter how monstrous the things that Ted will have to face are, they leave us almost indifferent.