The Physicists: Nothing is as it seems

While I was reading The Physicists by Mr. Friedrich Durrenmatt, I kept getting the sense that I had read, seen, or at least, heard of something like this play.  After much contemplation, I finally discovered why this work seemed to be so familiar to me: Shutter Island.  There are two forms of this story: the novel by Dennis Lehane (Gone, Baby, Gone; Mystic River, A Drink Before the War) and the film directed by Martin Scorsese (Taxi Driver, The Departed, Hugo, Wolf of Wall Street) and starring the still Oscar-less actor Leonardo DiCaprio.

These two tales are quite similar. They both are set in a location where the patients suffer from some kind of mental illness.  Shutter Island is more of a prison than the setting of The Physicists, but they are the same in essence. Something always seems to be amiss whenever we begin to actually look deeper into what is presented to us. Sometimes it is just the characters who are not always telling the truth, and sometimes there is something much bigger and much darker going on behind the scenes than anything the audience could have imagined. Both works feature a cast of odd and eccentric characters, mostly inmates, and suspicious doctors who continue to throw wrinkles into the mystery.

Shutter Island would be a great companion piece to The Physicists for anyone who is willing to spend the time to read or watch it (or both). It is not a comedy by any means, but it would still be fun to draw out comparisons between the two.

I understand that my post is pretty vague about Shutter Island, but I do that so that I would not accidentally spoil any major plot points or the ending(s) for anyone who is unaware.  Even though it came out over four years ago. I mean, seriously people, get out and watch more movies.

I have posted the trailer of Shutter Island below.  Keep in mind that the trailer makes it look like a horror film; I assure you that it is not strictly so.