The Ending of “Shutter Island.” How Did the Movie End?

The finale of “Shutter Island” is one of those endings after which you immediately want to watch the film again. Throughout the story, Teddy Daniels tries to figure out what is happening on the island, find the missing patient, and understand who here can truly be trusted. But in the last minutes of the film everything changes. Teddy comes face to face with the truth that his mind has tried to hide for so long. It seems that Dr. Sheehan has finally managed to bring him back to reality. However, then something happens that completely changes our perception of the final scene. Teddy looks at Chuck and says the famous line: “Which would be worse: to live as a monster, or to die as a good man?” These very words became the key to unlocking the film's ending. Did he really forget everything that happened again? Or does he understand perfectly well who he really is, but deliberately chooses to forget? If Teddy really did come to his senses, then perhaps he understands that living with the memories of his actions and the awareness of the tragedy that happened is worse for him than death. So he may deliberately return to the persona of Teddy Daniels so that the doctors will perform a lobotomy. It turns out the ending can be seen not simply as memory loss, but as a terrible, conscious choice by a man who no longer wants to live with his pain. And that is exactly why the last scene of “Shutter Island” leaves the viewer with the main question: did he really forget, or did he decide to forget? How do you understand the ending of the film?