10 Movie Moments You've Always Misunderstood

6. Teddy Willingly Gets Lobotomised - Shutter Island

What Everybody Thinks

At the end of Martin Scorsese's atmospheric thriller, U.S. Marshall Teddy Daniels (Leonardo DiCaprio) learns that he is in fact a patient at Shutter Island named Andrew Laeddis, who murdered his wife Dolores (Michelle Williams) after she drowned their children.

Laeddis has been allowed to assume the identity of Daniels as a last ditch effort to bring him back to reality and prevent him from being lobotomised.

After initially showing some clarity, Laeddis once again resumes the delusion, and is finally taken away to be lobotomised.

You need only Google "Shutter Island ending explained" to ascertain how many people have taken this ending at face value, that Laeddis truly did relapse, and seeing no other treatment option, the staff decided to lobotomise him.

The Truth

The key lies in the fateful line Laeddis utters to Dr. Sheehan (Mark Ruffalo) before the film ends - "Which would be worse? To live as a monster, or to die as a good man."

This implies that Laeddis was in fact cured and knew exactly what he had done, but rather than exist with the knowledge of killing his wife and allowing his children to die, he decided he'd rather have his mind turned to mush.

It adds one final tragic, horrifying wrinkle to the film's twisted story, and ensures that it isn't as simple as "Leo's crazy the whole time" like so many seem to believe.