Was watching shutter island on DVD with the wife and some good friends of ours the other day. I define good movies by how they make you think and ponder on the story and content, even much later after you watch the show. If that is the case, Shutter Island is definitely a great movie as it has still left me thinking about its plot and implications to my own practice even now, after I watched the movie last Saturday.
The basic premise of the show is that the main character Teddy (Played by A lister Leo Di Caprio), is a US marshall investigating the escape of a patient from a hospital for the criminally insane. What follows is a web of conspiracy theories that I would not go into for the sake of not spoiling the movie for anyone who is keen to watch it. If you really need to know the plot (shame on you) you can check out its sypnosis here.
More relevant, is how the show takes viewers into the minds and perceptions of the mentally ill, and how realities are stretched to the point that the person with a mental illness would be unable to distinguish what is real from what is not.
As an outsider, it is easy to label someone as crazy, without empathising with the range of emotions and pain he is experiencing.
I like the fact that the doctor in the show (Ben Kingsley!) proselytises the use of gentler methods of combining therapy with medication to treat his clients, ensuring the that the client is respected and supported.
On the whole, the movie itself is entertaining, with its fair share of thrills and suspense. Watch it now!!
(ps: I have created a new category of ENTERTAINMENT to place this post under. Come on: social workers need to have a life too...)
One day, as he was walking along the shore, he looked down the beach and saw a boy throwing starfish from the beach into the sea.
The guy asked "Good morning unknown boy! May I ask what it is that you are doing?"
The boy said "Throwing starfish into the ocean. The sun is up and the tide is going out. If I don't throw them in, they'll die."
Upon hearing this, the guy said, "Eh, there are zillions of starfish on the beach. You can't possibly make a difference!"
At this, the boy bent down, picked up yet another starfish, and threw it into the ocean. As it met the water, he said, "It made a difference for that one."
"It made a difference for that one" The boy repeated, as if anticipating a reaction from the guy.
Both looked at each other for an awkward minute.
"Hmm"... Said the guy, eyebrows furrowed.
"What?!" Said the boy.
"Well, if you look there, the starfish you just threw earlier has washed up on the shore again. and most likely most of them will wind up here anyway tomorrow or the next day. But of course, I'm sure you're just happy that you made a difference to them today...kekekkeke"
The boy stopped still in his tracks and stared widemouthed at the guy.
"So you're telling me I've wasted my time throwing starfish here the whole day?!?!??!"
"Well..." the guy started, "I guess you probably made some starfish happy, and you're extremely pleased with that of course. But, I'll tell you what we could do. Maybe we can set up a net or something that would reduce the number of starfish that wash up the shore. We probably need to get some friends of yours to come down to help with this set up"
"Hmm that sounds like a great idea!" the boy said, "but its a big beach, and I'm too lazy to get my friends down and do so much work. Anyway it's late and its time for me to go back... BYE!!!!"
"Nice...." Muttered the guy as he continued his leisurely stroll on the beach.
Posted by: Monster LadyGaga | 05/21/2012 at 10:32 AM