Shutter Island

Just watched Shutter Island today. For people who haven't watched it, it's basically a movie about this mental institution on an island somewhere off the Boston Harbor. Anyways, the story was quite twisted and confusing as the main character goes through all these delusions. I found this movie to be quite interesting because of its idea about the mentally ill or insane people.

When it talked about the transorbital lobotomy I was kinda grossed out. It sounded really twisted.. Anyways, at the end when the doctor revealed about the whole "role-playing" treatment thing I was surprised because the whole time as we watch the events through the main character's perspective it seemed like everyone on the island was off to no good. Basically, watching this movie from beginning till the end you would experience a lot of confusion. I guess it's reasonable considering that it's about a mental institution where patients have delusions anyway... But yeah, even though it's quite confusing it is still a great movie with very interesting storyline and a lot of twists to keep the audience interested.

It kinda introduced the idea about treating mental illnesses with care and not just drugs and force. The "role-playing" treatment probably won't work on every patient, but considering the case of the main character it actually seemed like a very good idea. This movie opened up my perspective on the idea of psychiatry. It's definitely not a simple field.. quite twisted in its own nature.. haha.

Makes me wonder, does creating a fantasy really helps forgetting or dealing with the traumatic past? Now that I think about it, the mechanism behind daydreaming is kinda like that, avoiding reality.. And daydreaming is definitely something we are familiar with. Perhaps it does help to fantasize sometimes to feel happier.. :P