Something Else to Think About

I think it's safe to say that we all had our minds blown by the ending of "Shutter Island."  Despite hints throughout of DiCaprio's character having something a little quirky with him, we almost entirely buy into his story, or Dr. Cawley's story/game rather.  While the film is very well executed and tells the story very well, I believe it plays off of a very important cultural and historical stereotype, one that it would potentially cause it to fail without having.   What I'm referring to is how we all agree that all mental health care in the 1950s was horrific and might have had good intentions, but just aimed to get rid of the "problematic" people in society.  This is of course something that we explored in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, with Kesey's directing his audience's sympathy towards the inmates of the asylum (with McMurphy as the protagonist), and consequently their anger towards the ward (with Nurse Ratched as the antagonist).  Having just read this book, obviously we all had our doubts when it came to the hospital's intentions in the film, not to mention the (now understandable) shady behavior of Dr. Cawley. By playing off of this stigma, the film has great success without a huge risk of plot holes by basing the plot on such a subject.  As such, the end of the film leaves you questioning various things, including if all institutions where alike in their maltreatment.  It shines a light on the origin of their problems back then, that some people truly are insane, however you define it, and the problems they cause require solutions.