Shutter Island (Pedro Ocampo)

 Teddy Daniels is an agent sailing towards a mysterious island where there is a psychiatric hospital that houses the most dangerous criminals. He is there to investigate the disappearance of a prisoner but will uncover a sinister truth. Teddy confides to Chuck his partner, that he had a wife who died in a fire along with three other people. Upon arriving at the hospital, Dr. Kauli explains that in the past, the hospital used to torture patients to remove their madness, but they have since stopped those practices and are now trying to cure them through therapy. The missing patient is Rachel Solando, and Dr. Kauli mentions that she is dangerous because she drowned her three children in a lake. He also adds that she is a widow as her husband died in the war, which triggers some memories for Teddy about his time in the war and causes him to experience headaches. Dr. Kauli continues to explain that Rachel believes the hospital is her home, and the other patients are her neighbors, and nobody has seen her.

While investigating, Teddy notices that Rachel couldn't have escaped through the rugged terrain because of thorns everywhere. He also finds a mysterious lighthouse, but the deputy warden tells him that it only handles sewage and has already been checked. The detectives interview the nurses, and they mentioned that Dr. Sheehan was Rachel's doctor, but he is currently on vacation. Teddy insists on seeing Rachel's and Dr. Sheehan's files, but they are denied access. He becomes agitated but is eventually calmed down and told they will help as much as possible. Suspecting everyone, he tells Chuck that he intends to leave in the morning. While sleeping, Teddy dreams of his wife Dolores, who chastises him for being an alcoholic. He responds that he drinks because he killed many people in the war. Teddy tells her how much he misses their happy times at the lake house and embraces her, but when he does, blood and water begin pouring from her abdomen. Before parting, Dolores tells him that he cannot leave the island because Rachel and a man named Andrew Ladies are still there.

The next day, Dr. Kauli explains that the old school of thought believed in psychosurgery like lobotomies that turned patients into zombies, but he believes that a patient's recovery begins with acknowledging and confronting reality. Teddy begins interrogating the patients, and one of them mentions the same story about Rachel that Kauli told him. When Teddy asks about Dr. Sheehan, the woman becomes nervous and looks at Chuck, and when he mentions Andrew Ladies, she becomes even more agitated and leaves.

Chuck asks Teddy who Andrew Ladies is, and Teddy reveals that he was the one who started the fire that killed his wife. They brought him to the hospital, and he disappeared. Teddy believes that the hospital is conducting experiments on patients to control their minds. Chuck points out that everything seems too coincidental, that just when Teddy was investigating the island, a case involving Rachel came up, and he suggests that Rachel may not exist.

Kauli informs Teddy that Rachel has been found and interrogates her. He notices that she has no scratches on her feet despite escaping barefoot. She claims to have been dropping her children off at school and then went to the lake, which triggers a migraine in Teddy, who becomes very emotional. While sleeping, Teddy dreams of walking through the war and sees two corpses, Rachel and a girl who tells him that he should have saved her. He responds that he tried but it was too late. Then, he transports to a lake where he leaves the girl's body. After this, Teddy wakes up, and Chuck tells him they can enter Building C, where the most dangerous patients are held. Teddy lights a match in Building C and encounters a man he knew from before, who tells him that everyone knew what Teddy was investigating about the hospital, and it's all a trap and a deception. He mentions that Teddy can't know the truth and kill Ladies at the same time, and he will have to choose. In the end, with no matchlight, the patient tells him that Ladies could only be in one place, the lighthouse.

After attempting to go to the lighthouse without success due to his fear of water and getting separated from Chuck, Teddy goes to a cave where he encounters a woman in front of a fire, whom he identifies as the real Rachel Solano. She tells him that she was an actual nurse and was made to appear crazy when she discovered the hospital's experiments on patients. She warns Teddy that he is in danger and must leave as soon as possible because she has taken medicines and cigarettes from them, and they will use a traumatic event from his life to make him believe he has gone insane. When Teddy tries to return, the head marshal intercepts him, and Teddy sees Chuck, who turns out to be Dr. Sheehan, and Andrew is his patient, but he pretended to be Teddy's partner to protect him. Teddy now remembers the truth about his family: his wife was manic-depressive, and Andrew drank to escape reality. She set their apartment on fire, and they moved to the lake house, where she drowned their three children, including the girl from his dreams named Rachel. Dr. Kauli and Sheehan knew Andrew's reality, and what they did was an extreme form of role-play therapy involving the entire hospital staff.

Suddenly, Teddy recalls a day when he returned from work and found his wife, who told him she had taken their children to school, but it was a Saturday. He saw the three bodies floating in the lake, his children. He rushed to the lake, but it was too late, and his wife asked him to set her free. Tearfully, Andrew shot her. All his dreams now make sense, as he had associated water with reality and fire with his fantasy. Andrew acknowledges that he invented Teddy and Rachel because he couldn't bear to think that his wife killed their children, and he felt guilty because he never supported her. His doctors acknowledge that Andrew has regained his sanity, but Kauli is still wary, as Andrew had relapsed nine months ago, and they hope it doesn't happen again.

 

Original Ending:

Hours later, Andrew is seated, Sheehan approaches him, but Andrew calls him Chuck again and tells him that something very strange is happening in the hospital. Sheehan, disappointed, signals to Kauli that Andrew has relapsed. A nurse approaches with a syringe, and Andrew asks Sheehan a question: "Which would be worse, to live as a monster or to die as a hero?" After this, he calmly accepts the lobotomy without resistance. (He preferred the lobotomy because he wanted to die as Teddy rather than live as Andrew Ladies, who was a monster to him.)

 

Alternative Ending:

Andrew is seated, Sheehan approaches, and Andrew recognizes him as Dr. Sheehan. Several months have passed since Andrew acknowledged the truth, and he hasn't relapsed. Thanks to Dr. Kauli and Sheehan, he has faced the trauma of his wife and children's deaths and is ready to be discharged and return to the normal world.