It was a cold February day when I decided to go see the film “Shutter Island,” with Leo DiCaprio, Mark Ruffalo, Ben Kingsley and directed by Martin Scorsese. I didn’t know what to expect but I thought it would be a mystery/suspense film with mind-bending details through out. It turned out to be something many of us didn’t expect.

If you haven’t seen the film, this may give some key details away. For me, the film was a little slow but despite some minute details it was a pretty ‘out there’ take on what happens when a person experiences trauma; IE: WWII Nazi Germany and how he (Teddy Daniels) copes with his mental and emotional pain afterwords, which is to say he doesn’t know how to deal with what he’s experienced. What was a bit disenchanting about this film was the way the movie tried to trick us into thinking it was about a sane person who was being told lies when really it was about an insane person who couldn’t accept the truth!

Overall, the film was very depressing while also being a bit stylized and cheesy. The acting was good but I wasn’t happy with the ending. I thought to myself after viewing this film, that people could use some insight into what the film is really saying; that when you DON’T heal from your past (those places that never let you go because you won’t let them go) you are more likely to go on hurting yourself and others.

Here are three tools to letting go–(Instead of allowing your past to keep you stuck!)

1. Acknowledge that you are experiencing ‘pain’ from your past trauma and seek help.

2. Begin to look at yourself through the eyes of love and compassion.

3. Make a decision to START FRESH, acknowledging that you choose to accept your past, knowing you did the best you could and take steps in the direction of faith and hope.

Overall the message was simple and was summed up by the last line by DiCaprio before he went off to get his frontal lobe swiped by a large needle. Would you rather live in a world where you thought of yourself as “the good guy” and were mentally insane, or in a world where you had your sanity but had to live with yourself as the “bad guy?” I think there is a third element that was missing in this film and that is the other notion; I would personally rather live in a world where I am sane; where I accepted the fact that I felt ashamed with some choices I made but chose to seek help and to give myself my own self-loving so I could LIVE life again!

DiCaprio’s character was the anti-hero and I like to see growth and change for the better in the films I see and it was disappointing to watch the credits roll as he was whisked off to get his memories wiped away… I call that kind of world a fantasy world, not the world in which we choose to consciously make a change in our own attitudes and lives through learning to love ourselves, scars and all.

cheers,