Take Shelter

SPOILER ALERT! The plot will be discussed.

Take Shelter (2011, with a title that fits our current situation) deals with the mental status of its main character. In doing so, it addresses what it’s like to be an outsider who is a frightening presence for those in the social mainstream. The story notes that paranoia and experiencing hallucinations can be signs of schizophrenia. But, sometimes someone who has an odd, nonconformist view may actually be insightful enough to have a vision of future events, similar to that of a prophet. The movie also appears to be making a statement about the dangers of human-induced climate change. Director and writer Jeff Nichols said that he was married and happy, but had a feeling outside his little world bad things were happening, and he wanted to tell a story that reflected that perception. 

The first shot of the movie, which takes place in Ohio, focuses on trees blowing, suggesting that the wind may be bringing in a change in the weather. Curtis (Michael Shannon, in a terrific performance) stares at the sky from his working-class house driveway, looking concerned. From behind his head the camera pictures what he sees, which are ominous, dark, dense clouds moving in. The image almost looks like the scene in The Ten Commandments where Moses parts the sea, suggesting something almost divine is occurring here also. He hears thunder rumbling, like the sound of an approaching monster. There is lightning, and then it begins to rain. But the drops are discolored, and he later describes them as thick and looking like motor oil (pollution, or is the storm a reference to the flood in the biblical Book of Genesis?). 

Curtis sits down for a routine breakfast with his wife, Samantha (Jessica Chastain), daughter Hannah (Tova Stewart), and their dog, Red. One aspect of this family is not average, since the daughter is deaf. Curtis uses his hands to say, “I love you,” to Hannah. His ability to read “signs” may also take on symbolic importance. Curtis must get to his job where he and co-worker, Dewart (Shea Whigham), run a drilling rig in a field. Dewart is ready to end the day’s labor because clouds are rolling in, which means a downpour will put an end to their work. Curtis says they have to keep at their task until quitting time. But it starts to rain, and this time Curtis didn’t heed the warning about a coming storm. The scene is foreshadowing of what is to come. 

There is a switch to three wives talking at Samantha’s house, and one woman, Dewart’s wife, Nat (Katy Mixon), says she went to a museum and saw the evolution “from apes to men.” She says that she “saw the future.” We have a reference to seeing what’s to come here. Nat says that the other woman’s baby will be like their husbands when he grows up, “shuffling in a bar.” She then glimpses Hannah playing with a piece of wood with a nail protruding from it, and Samantha runs out to warn her. There seems to be danger lurking here, emphasized by the thunder in the background. (There are many wide scenic shots to take in what is happening to the surrounding environment in the film).

After drinking at the local bar, an inebriated Dewart says he and Nat have been thinking about having a threesome. Curtis just starts laughing, because it is an outrageous notion for these guys who ride down the middle of society’s road when it comes to the rules of behavior. Curtis says he and Samantha would never do anything like that. Dewart says Curtis has “a good life,” and there is both respect and maybe envy in the compliment. That is why when he disrupts his world later it is so surprising to those who know Curtis. When he goes home, Curtis looks in on Hannah and Samantha joins him. She says that their daughter still doesn’t play with the other children because her outsider status makes it difficult to “connect.” He says that it’s strange that he still takes off his boots so he won’t wake her, and Samantha confesses that she still whispers, even though their daughter can’t hear anything. Their words imply that Hannah was able to hear at one time. But, these comments also show how people must fight their complacency and adapt to alternative ways of responding to reality as it changes.

Curtis has a nightmare of a threatening storm approaching as he tries to clean up the pile of trash with the dangerous piece of wood in it. A funnel cloud forms and Curtis is frightened. Their dog growls, breaks the rope that tethers him to the doghouse, and bites Curtis on the arm. Is the dream another warning? Later, Curtis can’t eat his breakfast and doesn’t want Hannah playing with the dog. He snaps angrily at Samantha when she questions his actions. After the nightmarish vision, the seams of that “good life” begin to unravel. There is a Steven Spielberg element here about ordinary people trying to deal with extraordinary circumstances.

Curtis’s boss Jim (Robert Longstreet) tells him that despite the weather, Curtis has to get the job done at the site. His order sounds like an example of arrogant humans trying to enforce their will onto nature. Curtis is distracted, rubbing his arm where he dreamed the dog bit him. His out-of-the-ordinary perceptions are distancing him from his usual everyday life. Despite the tight schedule to get their work duties completed, Curtis makes a stop at a home improvement store to buy supplies to confine the dog. Dewart gives him a look that shows he feels his friend's behavior is strange. (Actor Shea Whigham stated that the character of Curtis is like a storm himself, a “vortex,” who sucks everybody around him into his whirlwind and changes their lives). Curtis again looks at the sky at the work site and sees swarms of birds flying in odd patterns. When he mentions it to Dewart, his fellow worker doesn’t know what he is talking about. Curtis is on the path to becoming an outsider. 

Curtis gets home late from work, and his clothes are dirty and he needs a shower. But he and Samantha have to go to a school meeting for parents of deaf children. They joke about how badly he smells, but it is another example of how he is not fitting in even with those people who are different because of their children’s disability. 

Curtis has another nightmare that has him driving in (what else?) a storm with Hannah. He hits someone. Then there are footsteps on the roof of the car followed by men in hospital gowns (mental patients?) breaking the windows and dragging him and his daughter out. After he wakes up gasping, Samantha finds Curtis soaking wet from his dream. The dampness reflects what happened in his nightmare, so reality and illusion mix together. 

Curtis sets up a fence around Red’s doghouse, and puts the clueless animal inside. He checks out the storm cellar that has not been used for a long time, which shows he is thinking about the need to “take shelter,” both physically and mentally. Samantha wants her husband to explain why he confined Red. He has no logical explanation to give her which raises concern on her part and thus causes Curtis to become alienated even from his family. While she questions his action, Curtis is interested in a news story on the TV which reports on the deaths of some people due to a train wreck that caused a chlorine gas leak. Here is another example of the film inserting the theme of how negligent humans can be dangerous to the environment and, by extension, other people. Curtis is starting to become aware that individual disasters, or signs, may point to bigger catastrophes. Samantha, responding the way a majority of people would react, says in an unemotional voice about the deaths, “it’s awful.” The movie implies the horror of so many separate events becomes too taxing to fully enlist one’s empathy, so the individual usually develops an emotionally numbing defense mechanism to cope.

There is another storm outside the house. The audience at this point assumes it's a nightmare again. Curtis approaches his daughter who is kneeling on the couch while staring at the rain pelting the living room windows. As thunder crashes, there is a man outside staring into the window. He looks like one of the patient specters in his prior dream. There is a crashing sound, and then the furniture in the house seems to be rising in slow motion into the air before slamming back down onto the floor. The scene may remind one of what would happen if a tornado lifted the house up before releasing it, like in The Wizard of Oz, whose story was also supposed to be a dream. Curtis again wakes up struggling for air, which may allude to a demon succubus sitting on his chest, impairing his breathing. He has wet the bed, and is embarrassed, so when Samantha comes into the bedroom he yells at her to not get near him and just go to church. She is now upset by his “attitude” as she angrily leaves. His peculiar behavior is isolating him. He does admit to his usually stoical self that he needs to see a doctor since there is definitely something a bit scary going on with him. 

Curtis takes a ride to the library with Hannah while Samantha is at religious services, and checks out books on mental health. Even though he is looking for a reasonable, although upsetting reason for what is happening to him, Curtis also is worried about the omens he has been experiencing. So, he goes into survivor mode (we know about that) as he stops at the grocery store and stocks up on food and other supplies. He is late getting back for the Sunday family dinner. The meal begins without him with a prayer. When he does arrive home, Samantha’s father chastises Curtis for missing the church service. It’s possible Curtis might be having a unique religious experience of his own. He casually mentions how he wants to fix up the old storm cellar.

Curtis begins to clean up the shelter and stock it with canned food. He works into the night and is losing sleep. He is of two minds here, as he prepares for a disaster but also reads about psychological problems. He visits his family physician, Dr. Shannan (Ken Strunk), and reluctantly tells him that he can’t sleep because of bad dreams. He says after the one where the dog bit him he had pain in his arm all day. He also is honest about his urinating in the bed. The doctor asks if Curtis has seen his mother lately. It is here that we get the hint that his mother has a mental condition, and therefore, the doctor and Curtis are concerned about the disease being hereditary. Shannan gives him a sedative but wants Curtis to see a psychiatrist. 

Samantha gets the help of an insurance agent (Maryanne Nagel) to find a doctor who will accept her husband's health coverage to pay for a cochlear implant for Hannah. Samantha later says that she has been trying to call for aid for weeks. The woman notes that Curtis has very good insurance through his job, which will become an issue later. Even with the coverage, Curtis has an expensive co-payment for his medicine. The movie comments here on the plight of low-income people trying to deal with medical costs. 

Samantha is happy to give Curtis the news about the implant. The family seems cheerful and playful at dinner as they use Hannah’s crayons as makeup. Samantha has found a nice place for their vacation, and the smiles continue as Curtis takes his medicine and has a restful sleep, feeling better in the morning. But at work, Curtis asks Dewart about how much food someone needs to last a week, so he is still fixated on preparing for the destructive storm of his dreams. There is a loud crash of thunder that makes Curtis cringe, while Dewart doesn’t hear anything. The sky is clear, yet he still hears the thunderous sound, and Dewart looks at him suspiciously. Curtis runs off and vomits, and then he drives away. He pulls his pickup truck over because of a panic attack that makes him struggle to breathe again. Since all of what’s happening is shown from Curtis’s point of view, the audience starts to see what it must be like to question one’s sanity.

Given that questioning, Curtis visits his mother, Sarah (Kathy Baker), who resides in an apartment in an assisted living facility. Curtis wants to know what she experienced before she was diagnosed when he was only ten years old. She had the feeling of panic that her son is now experiencing, but she didn't have bad dreams. While talking in a whisper, she does admit that she thought others were spying on her, which suggests that she still feels that others are listening. 

Curtis calls Dr. Shannan for the name of a local person to see instead of the psychiatrist whose practice is a long distance away. He is calculating costs for his shelter renovation, so he probably doesn’t want to spend more funds on an expensive doctor. Also, he can’t afford to miss work and would have to divulge he was seeking help for mental problems if he had to travel far. Without telling Samantha, he takes out a risky loan with his house as collateral to finance his project. His obsession is becoming deceptive and reckless.

Curtis apologizes to Dewart at the drill site for running off, but his co-worker covered for him. They talk of mundane things like preparing food for a Lions Club supper, which contrasts with the extraordinary plight of Curtis. He tells Dewart he could use some help building his tornado shelter. He says he’ll work on a Saturday and borrow a backhoe and hauler from the company. Dewart has reservations as to whether Curtis should be using equipment that is owned by the company without permission. Curtis’s questionable behavior is now putting his friend’s job at risk. But, Dewart agrees to help his pal, although he asks him if he is feeling okay since he doesn’t want Curtis’s altered behavior to ruin that working-class “good life” he has. 

Curtis sees Kendra (LisaGay Hamilton), a local mental health counselor. He brought one of the library books with him and says he only has a couple of the symptoms for schizophrenia, and feels he doesn’t meet the diagnostic criteria. Based on his reading he thinks he’s having an acute psychotic episode. He wants to put it all behind him quickly and feels he can fix his problem with a pill. Kendra tells him she can’t prescribe medication, but she can help him talk about his problem and recommend where to go if he needs to see someone else. His mother was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia in her thirties, and Curtis is just a little older than his mother was when she developed the condition. So, there is a strong likelihood that he may have inherited the disease despite Curtis’s resistance to the idea. He says his mother just left him in a car when he was ten. She was found eating out of a dumpster in another state. She has been in assisted living since then and his father, who recently passed away, raised him and his brother. Kendra wants to hear about the dreams, and supposedly that is what they continue to talk about.

While driving home at night, Curtis pulls over because he sees a lightning storm occurring. Cars whiz by as Samantha sleeps in the back seat. Curtis asks what we too are wondering when he says, “Is anybody seeing this?” His feeling of alienation increases when Samantha comes home with Hannah and finds Curtis, Dewart and a backhoe along with a large hole on the property. She and Dewart exchange puzzled expressions. When Curtis tries to calm her, Samantha walks away with the question we all are thinking, “Are you out of your mind?” Later when he confesses that he took out a home equity loan to pay for some of the cost, she is outraged that he didn’t consult her. She wants to understand all of this bizarre behavior, but he knows if he tells her the reason he thinks he is protecting them she might have him put away like his mother.

Curtis thinks that more sedatives will help, but he takes too many. He has a seizure during the night and bites the inside of his mouth, causing him to bleed. Samantha, scared, calls an ambulance. After he recovers, Curtis, trying to maintain a hold on his normal life and his sanity, tells the ambulance team that he’s fine and will follow-up with his doctor. The drive to not be looked upon as someone who can’t deal with individual problems is strong in the heartland of America. However, he feels he must be honest with his wife. He finally tells Samantha about his recent nightmares. The one that night involved Dewart looking different, with strange eyes, and the two of them fighting. Dewart swung a pickax which went through Curtis’s leg. He tries to explain that he has a feeling that something terrible is coming, and he promised himself that he would not leave his family, which is a reference to what his mother did. 

Curtis seems upset when his daughter’s ear operation isn’t for six weeks, probably because he thinks whatever catastrophe is approaching will be sooner than that. He is distracted at work as he watches Dewart. He asks Jim if he would reassign Dewart, because after his most recent dream he is having the same feeling about him that he had with Red. He continues to cover up his problem when he lies to Jim, saying it’s difficult being a boss to such a close friend. Jim also points out that Curtis has missed a lot of work, and Curtis again dodges the reason, saying it’s because of Hannah’s doctor visits.

As Curtis lowers the storage container he bought to extend the shelter, Nat tells Samantha that Dewart told her how strange Curtis has been acting. Samantha, also not wanting to admit any weaknesses in her home life, and trying to protect her husband from being ostracized by the community, says they are “fine.” She just wants to appear normal by dealing with everyday events, such as the Lions Club supper menu.

Curtis proceeds with his project, buying gas masks, and installing a ventilation system, a toilet, and water and sewage lines. While he is working, his older brother, Kyle (Ray McKinnon) comes by because Samantha wanted him to check up on Curtis. Ray mentions their mother, maybe thinking about how her mental illness is now possibly surfacing in Curtis. He asks Ray to take the dog because he is so afraid of what he saw in his dream. He won’t share with Ray what has been happening to him, distancing himself from his own brother, He does hug him and shakes his hand, and it almost looks like he might be saying goodbye if what he has seen comes true.

There is another storm vision, with a silent, staring Samantha, dripping wet in the kitchen. There is a fly buzzing (insects are never a good sign in scary movies) and she stares at a knife. Curtis looks back at her and slowly shakes his head, trying to tell her not to do anything violent. The next scene shows how Curtis is in a sort of trance at breakfast and jumps in fear when Samantha touches the arm where the dog bit him in the dream. His reaction connects his wife to Red and shows how the nightmares are doing a Freddy Krueger job on him. 

Jim shows up at Curtis’s house and fires him for using company equipment without permission. Dewart told Jim about the machinery after Curtis wanted his friend off his crew. Jim suspended Dewart for two weeks with no pay. Dewart probably felt betrayed since he was supposed to be Curtis’s friend and even helped him with his shelter. Curtis has sacrificed his income and medical coverage, threatening his daughter’s ear operation. When he tells Samantha he was fired, she smacks him and walks away with Hannah. His maniacal desire to protect his family has ironically put them in a precarious position. Curtis shows up with an appointment with Kendra who he has been seeing, and finds out she transferred to another job. There is a man taking her place and the new counselor wants to start all over again despite saying he looked over Curtis’s file. Curtis just shakes his head and walks out without saying anything. He must feel abandoned and truly on his own now since he lost the one objective person who tried to help him. 

Curtis can’t even look people in the face because he knows how odd his behavior has been and how he no longer fits in with those around him. He asks his wife if she is going to leave him. Samantha realizes he “flinched” when she touched him because she was a threatening presence in one of his dreams. But, despite his fear, he reaches his hand out to her to show he doesn’t want to lose her. She decides to stick by him, saying they’ll try to move Hannah's surgery up since they have two weeks of health insurance left. She says they won’t take their vacation, she’ll get a job, and he’ll get a new one. She wants him to see a psychiatrist, no matter the cost. But the film’s point here is that they have to worry about money to take care of their health. She says, despite his feeling that he doesn’t belong, that she wants him to go to the Lions Club supper because she wants to feel “normal” for a change. There’s that urge to fit in, to feel comforted by belonging to a community, even though some of the members may judge those who present nonconformist behavior.

Samantha does not get her wish. At the supper, Dewart confronts Curtis, asking him why he is there. Curtis’s revealing statement is, “I’m not here,” which shows he is, to use a variation on a Coen brothers’ title, the man who isn’t there, a ghost of his prior self, an outcast. Dewart is angry for how Curtis removed him from his team and starts to hit Curtis. After they fight, Curtis lets out all the bottled-up fear and pressure inside him and explodes like a raving prophet. He sounds like an evangelist preacher as he turns over one of the dinner tables and yells that there is a storm coming, “like nothing you've ever seen, and not a one of you is prepared for it.” He warns that it will end them. The fierceness of his outburst frightens everyone there, including Hannah. Curtis cries when he sees that he even scared his daughter. The people there now must think his unbalanced mind is a threat to the town’s equilibrium.

Curtis has another nightmare which has thunder in the background while those black birds appear again and swarm in the sky and then descend and zip around him as he holds Hannah. There are sirens blasting in the background. But the dream blends into reality here since the warning sounds are real. Samantha wakes up Curtis and they get Hannah and head for the storm shelter. Once inside he turns on a lantern and locks the doors. He has gas masks (probably remembering the news story about the chlorine gas) for him and Samantha, and an oxygen tank with a mask that fits Hannah. They sleep on cots he acquired. Is this the danger that Curtis anticipated?

When Curtis wakes up he is upset that his wife and daughter don't have masks on. Samantha says the air is fine and he has to open the doors since the storm is over. He is terrified, and his fear is palpable as he worries that the danger still exists. He seems paranoid and looks suspiciously at Samantha, not believing her, and imagines that he still hears the storm. She has to continually reassure him that the threat has ended. Unconvinced, he even asks Hannah if she feels the thunder, which she doesn’t. Curtis wants Samantha to open the doors, as he hands her the key with a trembling hand. But she tells him he has to do it so he “can stay” with them. That is, he can still belong to something else, something real, and not exist alone in his own fears. He finally opens the doors and the weather is now fine. Repairmen are fixing an electric pole and neighbors pick up overturned patio furniture. But that is it, and Curtis finally admits that “it’s fine.” 

Curtis, accompanied by Samantha, seeks treatment from the psychiatrist (Jeffrey Grover) that his family doctor recommended. He says Curtis should get away from the shelter for a while. It is sort of a way of stopping him from returning to the womb of his fear of what’s outside. To that end, Samantha suggests that they go on their annual vacation to Myrtle Beach. The psychiatrist also prescribes inpatient therapy when Curtis returns. 

At the seashore, the seagulls are flying and the calming waves are washing up on the shore. As Samantha cooks dinner inside their rented condo, Curtis plays in the sand with Hannah. It is interesting that they are building a sandcastle with a moat around it. It’s possible Curtis is still thinking about the need for a safe place in case danger approaches. Hannah gets up and stares off into the distance. She signs that there is something out there. Curtis instinctively picks up Hannah to protect her and stares off into the ocean. As Samantha slowly, possibly with dread, walks out of the condo, the gathering black clouds are reflected in the glass of the patio doors and there are multiple tornadoes approaching. Outside, the polluted rain that Curtis pictured now falls onto Samantha’s hands. Curtis looks at his wife to confirm the terrible truth that what is happening is real, not a manifestation of mental illness. She nods, which vindicates her husband’s prophetic visions, but that confirmation means an even more horrible truth is upon them. It is ironic that in an attempt to save himself and his family from his supposedly exaggerated fears, Curtis left the safety of his home just at the time when he needed to take shelter.

The next film is The Third Man.