Shutter Island (2010) Movie

This is one of those movies that sends me straight to google find all I can find on it so as to rid myself effectively of the niggling feeling of uncertainty left in my head (What was the ending?!). And it really didn't help that I missed the last 10mins of the movie (not through any fault of mine,)

Guess what? The result of googling didn't get rid of that niggling feeling - instead, I now know I absolutely have to watch the movie again as well as borrow the book (Shutter Island by Dennis Lehans) which the movie was adapted from. Apparently, one of the twists/parts left for intepretation by the viewer is right at the very end when the lead character asks/declares "Would you rather live as a monster or die as a hero?"

Assuming that the first twist to the movie was accurate ie that Teddy was actually an insane patient on the island who had shot dead his wife for drowning their 3 children due to a manic-depressive state, the debate on the net rages over whether the last line was a declarative statement. I read on the net that the author of the book said that his take that the sentence was not, because if it was, then the lobotomy would have been halted since Teddy shows self-awareness. Others on the net have taken the view that Teddy made the conscious choice to be lobotomised and have the memories of his past erased because he could not live with them - this view was derived based on the "look" that Teddy gave to Chuck/Dr Sheehan when Teddy made the statement and also given Teddy's sufferings - migraines and flashbacks and dreams of his beloved dead wife when he says oh, so brokenly, "please don't leave me". I particularly like the dream where she is in his arms and everything around including her turns to ashes (which gels with what Teddy believes in his delusional state as Andrew - that his wife died in a fire) but blood flows from her stomach (which is the real memory).

The Slog Reviews: 9/10. I can do no better than to quote one of the reviews I stumbled upon on the net "The point of "Shutter Island" is that there is no truth and there is no reality. The genius of the storyline is that two people can watch the film and walk away with completely opposite perceptions of what actually happened - and *both* and *neither* are correct all at once. What the movie is really attempting to show us is that one person's reality is another person's fantasy - a perfect demonstration of how the world is seen by the sane and the insane. " It also helps that the shots and acting is superb. If you are a fan of Leo, you might be saddened as I was by the deep crease between his eyes - ah, how fleeting youth can be!