One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest is a legendary film about a man who enters a psychiatric hospital in an attempt to avoid serving a prison sentence. However, while he is in the hospital he becomes more and more part of the daily life, befriending some of the patients. When he attempts to escape, his plans do not go entirely perfectly and he is retained in the hospital until the end of the film. It is an inspirational film which cannot be missed.

When it was first released it was very successful, winning five Academy Awards. Today it is still considered to be one of the ‘great movies’ and I find myself liking it more and more with each time I watch it. It has interesting dynamics between the patients in the hospital, all of who seem to be generally fine, but are more scared of the nurse in the hospital than they are of becoming functional again. There are appearances from Danny de Vito (as Martini), Christopher Lylod (Doc from Back to the Future, as Taber) and Brad Dourif (Grima Wormtongue, as Billy Bibbit). The plot of the film is based on the book of the same name, and is absolutely fantastic. Despite the fact that he is a criminal, the audience (or maybe just me) is firmly on the side of the protagonist McMurphy. He becomes a powerful friend to many of the patients who all seem to revere his confidence and his prominence as a character in the hospital.

McMurphy is played supremely well by Jack Nicholson. This was one of Nicholson’s first major films and cements his status as one of the greatest actors of the day. He has a strange and wonderful ability play the insane character impeccably well. Obviously in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s nest his character is not insane, but in the moments that he needs to be in order to convince the authorities of his illness, he does so very well. A little too well for me, suggesting that there might be some criminally insane element to his personality. However, that is just me speculating. His interaction with the other patients is delightful. His bond with the Chief is the central relationship in the film, but I really love his relationship with Billy. When he is about to escape he stays behind until morning to do Billy a favour, which eventually costs him his freedom. This demonstrates how much McMurphy has come to value the patients of the hospital who are for all intents and purposes his friends.

Nurse Ratched is a subtle, yet despicable antagonist in this film. In 2003 she was voted as the fifth greatest villain of movie history (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AFI%27s_100_Years...100_Heroes_%26_Villains) and so this immediately sparked my interest when she was placed above classic villains such as Michael Corleone, Amon Goth, the Shark from Jaws, The Terminator and Jack Torrance from The Shining, just to name a few. It says a lot about her character that she makes the villains list so highly, but McMurphy does not feature on the heroes list. It is to the eternal credit of Louise Fletcher that she manages to portray Nurse Ratched so utterly hatefully. The thing is she is not as much of a terrifying villain as Tony Montana or Darth Vader, but she is viciously horrible to the patients in a very subtle way. Her utter power over everything in the ward, from the medicines to the cigarettes, from the daily routine to her control of the patients through humiliation. For example, her treatment of Billy at the end of the film leads directly to his suicide. When McMurphy suggests they watch the World Series she is confident enough to allow a vote, knowing it will not be passed. Louise Fletcher is absolutely phenomenal in this film and the sinister and fearful atmosphere that she creates has become a bit of a stereotype for the hardline nurse.

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest is a masterful film, and this is reflects in the awards that it won. It has a handful of BAFTAs and Golden Globes, but my focus, as usual, will be on Academy Awards. It was nominated for 9 awards, and won 5 of them. It is such a good adaptation from the book that it won Best Adapted Screenplay. Both Nicholson and Fletcher won the award for Best Actor and Actress, and there is absolutely no doubt in my mind that this was completely deserved as both actor and actress are unbelievable in their roles. It also won Best Director and Best Picture. For me, this reflects how much of an amazing film it is. It is one of three films to win the ‘Big Five’ awards of Picture, Director, Actor, Actress and Screenplay and the other two to do so are incredible in their own right. The legacy of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest should be one of incredible film-making, as well as being an exceptional film.

I cannot recommend this film highly enough. It is inspirational and engaging, and the audience cannot help but become involved with what they are watching. I think it is the kind of film that everyone should see, just because of the legacy that it has and because it more than lives up to the reputation it has as one of the best films ever made. That may be too much for the film, but I think it is deserved, so I urge you to watch it.