SHUTTER ISLAND and Hollywood Views of PTSD

By BARCODE 2x

Shutter Island's Leonardo DiCaprio suffers from headaches, nightmares, tremors, and a deep sense of paranoia. He hallucinates, becomes delusional, and does his level best during his psychological unraveling to uncover what may be a government plot. Like the Nazis, doctors at this film's dreary, ominous prison may be engaging in deadly experiments upon unwitting mental patients. DiCaprio's protagonist is a war veteran suffering a trauma that drives him to madness,  but are these horrors all real or imagined?

Like many films that have come before, Shutter Island deals with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and its effects on the lives of soldiers and their loved ones once they return home. Recent films such as The Hurt Locker and Brothers look into the psyche of Iraq veterans with sympathy and frankness. Iraq veterans are receiving inadequate care, and their re-entry into society is fraught with trouble.

Hollywood's horror and suspense genres have embraced PTSD as a plot device, but filmmakers have had a troubling relationship with it. Many times the fictional soldiers become villainous killing machines, as in Angel Heart, or The Manchurian Candidate, or The Deer Hunter. Other times they manage to unlock the government conspiracy that has destroyed them, as in Jacob's Ladder. All these films show the helplessness of trauma victims.

The danger is that Hollywood's treatment of veterans affects our perception of them. It makes for a great story, but turning victims of PTSD into monsters is a little dangerous, in these times. As soldiers of these recent wars will attest, the public is already misled and confused about the psychological effects of combat. The suicide rate among Iraq war veterans is at 15%. Their recovery and care are monitored by government protocols. The public is concerned with these damaged souls coming back home. They have been taught to kill, they have been thrust into terrifying situations, and their stability is always going to be in question. One only needs to look at what Vietnam did to a previous generation to see that we are facing a rapidly growing problem.

Normally we evaluate art here at a2ethics delicately. We steer clear of calling any artwork "unethical" in its treatment of its subject. But with the rise in awareness about this new generation of veterans and their issues, Hollywood should proceed carefully. The surreal, hellish atmosphere of Shutter Island keeps us on edge, and puts us in touch with our protagonist's most inner fears. Every step he makes, every sound he hears is a reminder of what he saw at Dachau. His suspicion of a German doctor at the mental facility drives him to distraction.

He is a damaged human being. Was it the war that drives him over the edge? Or was he crazy to begin with? Mental illness is better understood now than it was just after the Second World War. We see his condition now in a different context. So filmmakers may want to proceed with caution, lest they confuse an already confused public about our returning soldiers.

Listen here for our podcast on veteran's affairs, recorded on the eve of our last presidential election.

NOTE: Film lovers may want to take in Coming Home with John Voigt and Jane Fonda, and Born on the Fourth of July with Tom Cruise. Both films portray the inward and outward struggles of disabled veterans after Vietnam. With strong performances, great music, and a sensitive, sympathetic view on veterans' affairs, these films manage to take us where the horrific Shutter Island could never.