The film shutter island focuses in a man named Andrew Leiddis who is a former US marshal.

The
story starts at a ferry going to a certain island. The first scene shows the main character in a comfort
room vomiting, suggesting that he have sea sickness. As he leaves the room, he meets a man referred to
as “chuck”. Another US marshal designated as his partner for the investigation of a missing patient in the
mental institution. Rachel solando, the missing patient in the institution is said to be dangerous. She
drowned her children at the back of the lake then lined them up at the table. As said by the institute’s
staff, after therapy she was escorted back at her room for “lights out”. After that she suddenly
disappeared. Leaving only mystery on how she escaped from the room. During the course of the
investigation, it is revealed that the protagonist have other agendas for accepting the case in the said
institution. First, He is looking for a certain patient that is the suspect for causing a fire in the claimed
apartment he is living in. this said “incident” caused his wife’s death due to suffocation. Another is that
he is finding enough evidence for his allegation to the institution for performing human experiments on
the patients. As the opportunity presented itself, he is able to access the restricted area of the mental
institute only to find that his informant was again, already being held in the restricted ward. As the
events continue, he is led by his informant to a lighthouse. It is said that it is the place where the doctors
perform the human experiments. Having a fight with his partner, he continued to the lighthouse alone
only to find that the place is inaccessible by that time. His partner disappeared without a trace. While
looking for him, he stumbles upon a small cave and found the real Rachel solando. a former psychiatrist.
She was framed as insane by the institute due to her actions countering the interest of the institute,
allegedly “human experimentation”. She then suggests that the protagonist is going through the same
trap set-up by the institute so that they can prevent his plans for exposing their work. By returning to
the institute, he continues to find his partner. Convinced that he is being held at the lighthouse, ho
continues to the place. At the top of the place, he meets with the primary psychiatrist of the institute.
He then reveals that the protagonist is a patient in that institution and his partner was his primary
psychiatrist. They explained to him that he repressed and created a new personality that escapes the
reality of him killing his own wife and the death of his children. At the end he accepts reality, but acts as
if he again repressed so that the institute’s officials will have no choice but to perform a psychosurgery
that will lead to a permanent escape to his guilt.

The film suggests that the protagonist had an excessive guilt towards the death of his family.
Because of this, he unconsciously forgot his true memories and created a new reality where he is not
the one responsible for the crime he committed. His created a plot where his crime was committed by
another persona and that his wife did not kill their children. Because he cannot accept the fact that his
wife is responsible

Scene analysis

1. The scene where the protagonist got into the lighthouse and the psychiatrist explains the truth
to him. The scene shows a psychiatric concept of stating the facts. Also the scene reveals
psychotherapy of role-playing.
 2. In the scene where he met Rachel Solando. The scene had shown the concept of transference
where Rachel have seen his husband in the protagonist. She expressed her sorrow for being
alone.
3. The scene where the protagonist meet with the two psychiatrists. in the scene, it is shown the
concept of defense mechanisms. An example of which is projection, where the protagonist
projects his chosen drink to the psychiatrist.
4. In the scene where the protagonist got into the small cave and met the “real” Rachel solando.
The scene is later revealed that there is no Rachel solando and that he is having a severe form of
hallucination. Visual hallucination to be exact.
5. The scene where the psychiatrist explains the newest psychopharmacologic drug. This shows
the concept of psychopharmacology is used to control misbehavior of patients. Drugs such as
thorazine, some neuroleptics and tranquilizers were mentioned in the film.

The film had shown that during that time, there is a conflict between psychiatrist, psychologist, and
psychosurgeons. Some believe that surgery is the answer in controlling the psych patients while others
believe that drugs could control them, While a few believe in psychotherapy.

Some defense mechanisms shown in the film were: denial, projection, reaction formation,
repression, and suppression. Denial can be seen in the protagonist. This is due to him unable to accept
that he killed his most beloved wife and is unable to save his children from death. Projection can be seen
during the scene where he is talking with the two psychiatrists where he projects his chosen drink to the
psychiatrist. Reaction formation is shown in the scene where he talks lively with the other psychiatrist to
gather more information. Repression can be seen in the whole movie where he had unconsciously
forgotten his past, the fact that he had killed his wife and the lost of his children. Suppression is seen in
the last scene where he consciously chose to live with the reality he created to escape the guilt of losing
his family.

Conclusion:

The film shows some concepts of psychiatry. It somehow shows a connection with the
psychiatric nursing practice. Also, it shows how the concepts of defense mechanism,
psychopharmacology, and psychotherapy work. In my opinion, this film is able to show major concepts
of psychology and is a great help in understanding the concepts better. Also the film gives an
introduction, rather an example on how a psychotherapy specifically role playing therapy works.