Interesting analysis, didn’t know this was what was really going on if this is accurate the way the way they describe this.
I have not seen this movie but from what I have heard and read about MK Ultra, this seems accurate. Knowing the method, you can arm yourself against this form of warfare. Perhaps there is some soft disclosure in this movie, but more often than not, there is some other agenda for the “revelation of the method” in movies coming out of Hollywood. Most people did not recognize what was going on after seeing it, but it did sink into their sub-conscience. I am not familiar with the author but looking into his other articles, he seems legitimate, although I don’t know if he was really an illuminati defector. His free pdf book looks interesting too. There is the concept of mass hypnosis and this type of gas lighting the population that has occurred before with trauma to the mind instead of the body,. Perhaps, one such time was with the isolation, terror, and compartmentalization that comes with certain drugs that came with the lockdowns and the coronavirus scare. There is another book I want to check out about this here:
Probably would be helpful to read the book to understand what this is really about, confusing with multiple layers of deception and psychosis to make any sense of the movie. The ending seemed to go along with the conclusion that the marshall was already a patient, not an actual marshal, that is some heavy deception for them to be able to convince him and the audience of that considering if that is really all a lie!
Yeah, the book makes this more clear apparently. I first heard this audio podcast interview and then found the author’s website. There seems to be a ritual betrayal after the deception to gain trust that occurs as a theme in some dramas as if rehashing some old Greek myth or play. POW’s have pointed out that isolation, cold, hunger, darkness, etc. are forms of torture going along with this “breaking of the spirit” method, as if you were a horse to be domesticated or something. I found the comment at the bottom helpful
"Amazing stuff.
Belladonna poisoning would facilitate such intense, real hallucinations and would also impart light sensitivity and other symptoms.
I had a similar inclination as you, that the story involved brain washing Teddy to make him Andrew, for the reason of stopping his investigation into Nazi experiments that were continuing at the facility. And like you, I was amazed at how fervently some believed in the “standard” interpretation.
What’s fascinating is that the writer and director both endorsed the “standard” model.
Why is that? I chalked it up to Scorcese being cheeky. However, after reading your interpretation, I’m more prone to believe that the movie is a tutorial on mind control for some (those viewers that are psychotic or “in the know”), as well as an instrument of mass hallucination for others. Luckily we got out with our rational sense and humanity intact."
Hadn’t seen this movie for a long time, didn’t remember the full ending.
Just re-watched this last week, and close to the end DiCaprio does seem to accept an explanation that he had been a patient at the island for two years, but didn’t remember that.
The next scene in the morning, he seems to have apparently forgotten accepting that version of events the day before, and talks as if he had just arrived at the island and was starting his investigation that day.
Really unsettling, this ending. The actor who plays his partner, or a doctor pretending to be his partner, is Mark Ruffalo. With this ending they did present it in a way that looked like he really is a doctor, not a federal marshal, unless he was a marshal at the beginning but pretended to be a doctor for the sake of tricking an actual marshal into thinking he was a patient.