“Island of the Damned” is a psychological thriller filmed by Martin Scorsese based on a work by Dennis Lichein, which appeared at the Russian box office in 2010. The original name of the film in English - Shutter Island - can be translated as “Trap Island”.
Remarkable made the tape "Island of the Damned" actors. The entire ensemble of actors, which showed a decent level of play, is noteworthy. Most of the characters are complex and contradictory, so the tasks they faced were very difficult.
The main role is masterfully performed by Leonardo DiCaprio, while the film was at that time the fourth joint work of the actor with the famous director.
Plot
The film takes place in 1954. Two investigators, Teddy (Leonardo DiCaprio) and Chuck (Mark Ruffalo), arrive on a remote island in the Boston Gulf, where the only clinic in America for mentally ill criminals is located. They were sent there to investigate the mysterious disappearance of the dangerous patient Rachel (Emily Mortimer).
On the very first day, detectives begin to suspect that strange things are happening in the hospital. A gloomy and oppressive atmosphere reigns around, a feeling of fear and understatement. It seems that both doctors and patients are not happy about the appearance of unexpected guests and withhold something from them.
While the main characters are trying to unravel a tangle of lies, a powerful hurricane begins on the island, and patients of the clinic organize a riot. As a result of incidents, investigators remain cut off from the outside world and gradually reveal some sinister secrets.
Hallucinations begin to torment the hero of DiCaprio, and soon it becomes more and more difficult to distinguish fiction from reality. The denouement of the film turns the whole plot upside down and makes you rethink everything that happened on the screen in a different light.
Main character
Leonardo DiCaprio got the highly controversial role of Federal Marshal Teddy Danniels, a widower and war veteran. His character is trying to unravel the ideas and secrets of the people living on the island, but at the same time he is tormented by constant headaches and tragic personal memories.
According to the actor, Martin Scorsese forced all filmmakers to watch old films for hours to imbue the atmosphere of that time. The result did not disappoint the director - DiCaprio organically fit into the image. To make sure, it is worth paying attention to his gait and manner of smoking, which correspond to the behavior of people in the beginning of the second half of the 20th century.
No wonder it is believed that Leonardo's talent was fully revealed largely due to his participation in the films of Martin Scorsese. In each new film, the director sets DiCaprio with increasingly complex acting tasks.
In "Island of the Damned," Leonardo was to portray a thin line that separates a healthy person from a mentally inadequate. It is worth noting that the character of DiCaprio turned out to be very lively. It is impossible not to feel all his fears and experiences, distrust and pain.
Throughout the film, his hero was haunted by visions caused by guilt and bitterness of loss. The actor told in an interview that the scenes of dreams and flashbacks, when he imagines that the Nazis killed by him in the war, or the ghost of a dead wife, were given to him most difficult. Nevertheless, DiCaprio plays in these moments so convincingly that the viewer himself ceases to distinguish between reality and hallucinations.
Suspicious partner
Mark Ruffalo plays the role of Chuck Oul - Teddy's assistant. The actor brilliantly depicts calm and phlegmatic against the backdrop of an emotional partner during all the plot twists and turns. In this film, many characters in the finale are not who they say they are. And this hero is no exception. For the performance of this role in 2011, Mark was nominated for the Saturn Award as Best Supporting Actor.
Psychiatrists
The legendary Ben Kingsley played the role of one of the key figures in the film - Dr. Cowley, the chief physician in the entire hospital. The actor ideally suited the character of the hero, shrouded in mystery throughout the film. What is worth only his sharp look with a spark of madness! Ben creates an image of a man with aristocratic manners, but what lies behind them?
In his interview, he called this film a magnificent symphony, but noted that the shooting was quite exhausting. He said that Martin created a tense atmosphere on the site with the help of special tricks - he unexpectedly changed the angle of the cameras and lighting while recording scenes. However, thanks to such tricks, the heroes, in a sense, did not even have to play paranoia, this feeling arose naturally.
The famous Swedish actor Max von Syudov appears in the Island of the Damned as an elderly doctor of psychiatry - Jeremy Neyring. What is noteworthy, the artist was 80 years old at the time of filming, but his game is still great. Max von Syudov retained an expressive look that was not at all appropriate for his age.
Arsonist Prisoner
Elias Koteas plays the role of the psychopath Andrew Leddis, who, presumably, is also a prisoner of the gloomy clinic. During the story, it turns out that the main character Teddy arrived on the island not only to investigate the disappearance of the patient, but also to find the killer of his wife.
Peering into the image of a man with a scar on his face and a strange color in his eyes, it’s rather difficult to understand that we have Canadian actor Elias Koteas in front of us. At the same time, at the end of the film, it turns out that Andrew Leddis is not at all the person Teddy imagined ...
Island of the Damned: Actors Acting as Secondary Characters
Michelle Williams presents the image of Dolores Chenel - Teddy's murdered wife. Her character appears in the memoirs of the hero of DiCaprio.
Jackie Earle Haley, known for his character Rorschach in the movie Guardians, plays a mentally ill patient, George Noise. It is he who informs the protagonist that experiments are being conducted on people in the hospital. Jackie Earle Haley portrays the hero very convincingly and is remembered by the viewer. And all this despite the fact that he appears only in the episode.
Actor Ted Levine used to play the role of villains, gaining special fame after the image of a maniac in the film “Silence of the Lambs”. On a spooky island, his character, Warden, occupies the post of chief of security at a prison clinic.
Patricia Clarkson plays the disappeared Rachel Solando, whom Teddy suddenly finds in a cave. She affects the understanding of the situation by the main character, telling her story. Rachel herself worked as a psychiatrist in the clinic, until she tried to tell the world the truth about the cruel experiments in the hospital, after which she was declared a dangerous patient who disappeared.
Box office
Exactly $ 80 million was spent on making the film. In the world box office, "Island of the Damned" has collected more than 294 million dollars, of which fees in America amounted to 128 million, and in Russia - 5.4 million dollars.
Reviews
Despite the tense background of the film “Island of the Damned”, the actors were able to cope with complex psychological roles, and the film earned the audience love. The picture in 2011 became the winner of the Russian national film award Georges as the best foreign drama. In the United States, the film also received recognition and in the same year hit the top ten, according to the National Council of Film Critics.
"Island of the Damned" takes 34th place in the list of 250 best films in the history of cinema (according to the IMDb website).
Film critics and viewers note the following strengths of the film:
- Sound design. The music and the entire scale are selected very accurately, emphasizing the anxiety of the situation.
- The visual series, creating an atmosphere of hopelessness - gloomy landscapes, hurricanes, rains, reminiscent of a fortress clinic.
- A tense and famously twisted plot. It is impossible to tear oneself away from the viewing, and the finale becomes a surprise even for the most avid movie fan.
Of course, some reviews are not so encouraging, but in general, the film has high ratings and is considered a quality product of the film industry. Having played vivid and convincing roles in the film "Island of the Damned", the actors received recognition from both critics and ordinary viewers.
This picture is not worth watching if you just want to have fun and not think about the story. If you want to tickle your nerves, carefully peer into the details, trying to predict the next plot twist, you should watch this movie.