Deliberate mistake: During the interrogation scene, a patient asks for a glass of water. When she receives a the glass of water, she lifts her right hand to her mouth and makes a drinking motion, but is not holding a glass. A moment later she sets down an empty glass with her left hand. When the camera angle changes, the glass has become half full. This implies the patient's mental instability and adds to the surreal feel of the film.
Shutter Island (2010)
1 deliberate mistake - chronological order
Other mistake: During the flashback of the soldiers executing the Dachau guards, the soldiers are in a line opposite the guards who are in a line against a fence. The soldiers all start shooting at the same time, but we are shown the guards being mown down by gunfire in succession, like dominoes, rather than simultaneously.
George Noyce: Don't you get it? You're a rat in a maze.
Trivia: During the ferry approach at the start, we are shown Shutter Island. In actuality this is a combination of Peddocks Island (the decaying brick buildings), Maine's Acadia National Park, Massachusetts' Medfield State Hospital, and Turner Hill Country Club's Rice Estate (located in Ipswich, MA), which were combined via CGI. Additionally, the mountainous region of the island (shown as the ferry approaches) was also CGI, and added in post-production.
Question: The woman that writes "run" on Teddy's note pad, was Ben Kingsly trusting this "crazy woman" not to tell Teddy or even let it slip that the whole thing was set up for him? Same question goes for every other crazy person in the institute that Teddy speaks to.
Chosen answer: The other patients were not let in on the arrangements. They would have had no reason to suspect that anything at all had been set up for Teddy. As far as they're concerned, if they're cognizant enough to be concerned at all, Teddy's just another crazy guy acting as crazy as all the rest of them.
Answer: I think Mrs Kearns is in on it. We see her get a little flustered when she is asked about the doctor, who we find out later is sitting right there. Also, she gets uncomfortable when Teddy brings up Andrew Laeddis. She even tries to warn Teddy. I just discovered this recently when watching with the subtitles, but when Teddy comes back from the cave, Mrs Kearns can be heard saying "I can't remember what I'm supposed to remember", likely referring to the script she was supposed to stick to.
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Answer: Teddy belonged in Ward C. He would have never met any of the patients.