Shutter Island: A Modern Dr. Caligari?

 

In my free time, I recently watched the film Shutter Island. I was drawn to the film for a number of reason. The first, and main reason is that I am a fan of Martin Scorsese and wanted to get familiar with more of his work. The cast of the movie also looked intriguing to me, as it includes Leonardo DiCaprio and Mark Ruffalo. 

What struck me the most while watching Shutter Island was all of the similarities I noticed to the first film we watched this semester, Dr. Caligari. There were little details I picked up on throughout the film that reminded me of Dr. Caligari. Shutter Island takes place at a mental institution, follows around detectives, and even utilizes shots that seem similar to shots used in Dr. Caligari.

I thought that I may have just been picking up on these small things because Dr. Caligari was still fresh on my brain, and that these were not intentional choices made by Scorsese. However, after seeing the ending of Shutter Island. I am now sure that it was inspired by Dr. Caligari. 

At the end of Shutter Island, it is revealed that the entire movie has been an elaborate game put on by the institute, and that detective and main character Teddy Daniels is actually Andrew Laeddis, a patient/prisoner of the institution. This is essentially the same ending as Dr. Caligari. There are even similarities between Dr. Cawley in Shutter Island and Dr. Caligari. I think that all of the similarities between the two films are intentional decisions made in Shutter Island to pay homage to Dr. Caligari, which was the first film of this genre.