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Upon arrival at a mental institution, a brash rebel rallies the patients together to take on the oppressive Nurse Ratched, a woman more a dictator than a nurse.
Jack Nicholson: R.P. McMurphy
The opening shot of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest(1975) is a picturesque vision of an Oregon day awakening. Ponderous, lingering music gracefully glides from the score and a car is shown coming to us. Inside the car is one of film history's most remarkable characters.
Randle McMurphy is about to bring hope, humour, and a wake up call viewing of reality to some disturbed people in a mental hospital. Jack Nicholson as McMurphy, is something of a paradox. Is this guy crazy or is he really the lazy, conniving criminal most believe him to be? That is the magical mystery and start to a journey into mental illness and the effect this man will have on some truly fascinating individuals.
Milos Forman directs a much loved and celebrated story adaptation film, which swept the Oscars deservedly in the mid-seventies. The book which the film piece was adapted from was written bu author Ken Kesey while Lawrence Hauben and
Bo Goldman worked on the films screenplay.
It is a straight forward story about people, therapy and the difference one individual can make to a group. Chaotic instances are swirled with poignant acting all leading to an astounding climax. Not preceding or since has One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest collection of different characters had such a defining impression on cinema. You could write a book report about each of the patients in the ward. The two most important people here are Jack Nicholson and Louise Fletcher's main symbolic characters R.P. McMurphy and Nurse Ratched. R.P McMurphy appeals to their humanity while Nurse Ratched attempts to supress it further.
The plot of Ken Kesey's Novel and indeed the film adapt is as follows:
The story follows Randle Patrick McMurphy (Jack Nicholson), who, in an attempt to get out of spending more time in prison, pleads insanity for his crime, and is therefore sentenced to time in a mental institution. This was McMurphy's intention, as he believes the conditions in an institution will be significantly easier to contend with than another harsh stay in prison. However, he quickly finds out that surviving the institution with it's desolate patients (including Christopher Lloyd, Danny DeVito, Vincent Schiavelli and an absolutely brilliant Brad Dourif as the stuttering Billy Bibbit) and the monstrously repressive Nurse Ratchet (Louise Fletcher, in a career defining role) is considerably harder than he imagined. McMurphy plays pranks, horseplay, and is generally defiant to the rules of the institution in an attempt to raise spirits. His constant optimism and reckless defiance to the out of date rules in the institution can be very uplifting, and often quite funny as well, but much of the movie can be very depressing - the generally decrepit state of the institution is a consistently (and intentionally) bleak background to a superb story with a truly bittersweet ending.
Jack Nicholson is at his best here, head and shoulders above other excellent performances such as Chinatown or The Shining. McMurphy is an apparently unquenchable optimist, refusing to succumb to the defeated spirit of all the other patients. His livewire antics, inspiring the patients are generally uplifting, and when his indomitable spirit is finally broken, we really feel for him and his fellow patients. Nicholson conveys the essence of McMurphy to perfection, demonstrating his excellent understanding and interpretation of the character.
Louise Fletcher plays one of the more reprehensible human beings in film as "Nurse Mildred Ratched". She is a hardened woman, one whom makes the daily meetings with the group a contest to see who will win. Her stubbornness and lack of compassion for the poor guys is rather one dimensional. That's perfect because that is exactly who she is. Her strong will to keep things monotonous leads to a final showdown with the free spirited McMurphy in what is easily one of the most shocking and disturbing climaxes in cinematic history.
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest does not try to make a statement about mental illness or how the unstable should be treated. Rather, it is a very simple portrait of the long days and hilarious scenarios that can come about when a mixed group of suffering people are thrown together. Mental illness is nothing to laugh about, but the fact that Nicholson is not really crazy at all allows us to be amused. He seems to love his companions in the hospital. He is mislead, however, into thinking he can do as he pleases.
There is no denying the power and subliminal messages shown here. The two main powerhouse performances are golden, the cinematography is morbid and gritty like the story intended, the Chief is great as Nicholson's best friend, you care for these characters in a way their carers do not. The famous, final shot ironically happens to be an exit of one of the main characters, one whom is undoubtedly as great as the protagonist, into that early, Oregon early morning, an end for the film yet a new beginning for the free.
''What do you think you are, for Chrissake, crazy or somethin'? Well you're not! You're not! You're no crazier than the average asshole out walkin' around on the streets and that's it.''
10/10
