11 Brilliantly Controversial Martin Scorsese Moments

8. The Aviator - Howard Hughes: Shut In

The Aviator tells the story of Howard Hughes (Leonardo DiCaprio), the most successful and eccentric billionaire of the last century. Equal parts mogul, filmmaker, and dreamer, Hughes' life affects the charms and defines the excesses of the 1920s and 1930s, how one man possessed with the American Dream can outshine all others. Despite the gaudy lifestyle, the film takes dark turns into what we now understand was Hughes' struggle with OCD. Hughes saw the world as unclean, an environment from which he must remain sanitized. Towards the end of the film, he shuts himself into a screening room at his office for days on end, subjecting himself to the horrors of his own loneliness. Living exclusively off of milk and sandwiches, he begins to dispose of his waste in bottles, letting food around him rot. Despite his need to live a cleanly around others, Hughes becomes a victim of his own filth. Scorsese uses the portrait to discuss a powerful insight into the world of mental illness. A topic often considered as overblown, mental illnesses such as OCD affect more people as modern society moves at a faster pace and pressure to succeed increases, and are one of the most misunderstood topics in medicine. By looking into an extreme case of OCD like the ailment Hughes suffered, Scorsese seeks to prove that, no matter how much power you accrue on earth, you can always become powerless against yourself. Without addressing this aspect of Howard Hughes, there is very little ground to humanize his presence. Thanks to Scorsese, Hughes morphs into a protagonist for whom one cannot help but feel remorse.