re: the ending of Shutter Island - discussion (SPOILERS)

well look at the other main emotional event of his life (that we know of)

when they killed all of those innocent (relatively...in terms of war, not morals) germans, there wasn't some big built up guilt complex. the americans were pissed at the germans, and they fricking killed them all

same anger-violence scenario with his wife

I believe the war and his experiences contributed heavily to him becoming an alchoholic. it was his way of hiding from reality adn from his memories. It was the alchohol that blinded him to his wife's sickness and when the deed was all done he realized it was because of his drinking and neglect that his kids were dead adn instead of processing it and getting help, he dug a deeper hole and climbed into it living as another person.

I had an idea in my mind when they told us the girl they were looking for had everyone around her play roles it could be Leo doing the same thing, didn't know it for sure, but just a thought. Even though it did kind of play out that way, it didn't take away from the movie. Very well done.

One of the few non scary movies i've seen that made me not wanna go to sleep that night.

anyone else think that the hammer/clicking sound that was so obvious in his dream sequences was the same sound that he said his wife complained about? he said she felt like a bug was inside her head clicking its way beneath her skull and it was driving her mad

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hell no country was the most suspenseful movie experience of my life

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yeah, that was pretty damn tense too

I know I'm late but I just saw it last night. I didnt read this thread until today but I immediately thought that he realized he was a patient at the hospital. The scene of his wife killing the kids and him shooting her wasnt a hallucination but his memory. So he then realized they were telling the truth and he didnt want to continue living with the guilt so he faked that he still thought he was Teddy in order to get the lobotomy and "die a good man". His doctor realized that after his comments and thats why he called out "Teddy"

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the scene early on where he confronts "Laediss" sitting in teh chair by the fire is very telling.

The Laeddis his confronts is grotesque, scarred, evil and offers him a drink from his coat. This was how he viewed himself. Someone so dispicable and disfigured he couldn't even bear to see it in the mirror, hence he creates another Persona

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Good point. I also loved how "Laediss" was played by Casey Jones from the original TMNT movie.

As for the end, I still think the point was that the experiment didn't work, and that's why the lobotomy was necessary. My coworker I saw it with feels the same way.

However, reading this thread and thinking back on it, I'm definitely open to it being that he chose the surgery to "live like a good man and not a monster." I'll have to watch it again before I change my mind.

I thought it was a good movie though, and I don't really like Leo, but thought he did a great job.

ETA: as for the argument of the last page or so, I definitely don't think he killed his wife to "set her free." He killed her in cold blood because she killed their kids, plain and simple. And I think that's why he felt so much guilt for it and thus.created the alternate reality/persona to live as. It helped him escape the pain and guilt he felt for murdering his wife in cold blood.

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when they killed all of those innocent (relatively...in terms of war, not morals) germans

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I thought that didn't actually happen, but was something he dreamed up for the Teddy personality. didn't Kingsley say that at the lighthouse?

i swear thw whole time he was on the island, and even when he was on the boat at the beginning of the movie, he had a bandaid on the left (i believe) side of his face above his eyebrow

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However, reading this thread and thinking back on it, I'm definitely open to it being that he chose the surgery to "live like a good man and not a monster."

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I'm almost positive he chose to have the surgery instead of living his life knowing what he had done.