Martin Scorsese has been trying to find his footing commercially ever since the end of the seventies. His unbelievably positive critical response over the years has made it so he can always find the money to make his next film, and even more he can usually make the film he wants. There are a few examples of him doing “one for them” so he can do one for himself, notably taking Steven Spielberg’s place on Cape Fear in an attempt to make a popcorn picture for Universal after they funded his ill-fated Last Temptation of Christ. However the cult of Scorsese has grown over the past decade with Gangs of New York, The Aviator and The Departed all bringing home $100-million plus, and he now finds himself in a position of critical and financial esteem no director has occupied since Alfred Hitchcock. Which is where an analysis of Shutter Island should begin.
