One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

This film unlike most others on the same topic had no real event to focus on. There was not just one climax or specific scene that the others built up to or supported. I cannot say that I enjoyed it but I do feel it has to a great extent affected me. The only reason I feel that this film is one worth watching is because of the latent message it holds. It very successfully exposes authority and bureaucracy in society. The characters in this film portray people that are either convinced or have been convinced that are crazy.

Mac, a man with no real purpose in life but to sail through it somehow, is sent to a mental institution for doctors to determine whether he is crazy. There he makes an enemy of the head nurse in the ward, whose methods of taking care of the patients are harsh and rigid. What intrigues me most about the Ms.Ratched's (the nurse), character in this film is the fact that even though so much out of the ordinary happens, she returns to her normal self in a matter of seconds. It seems that years of routine and monotony have taken over her and she simply cannot have things any other way. Anything out of the ordinary is repugnant to her, thus her firm resolve to not allow the patient's to view a ball game during the World Series. Which is why when she encounters Mac, she feels she needs to suppress his "outrageous" acts in any way possible. She goes to the extent of sending him for treatment by electrocution. She is perfectly aware that Mac is not crazy and such a measure goes to show how cold, impersonal and rigid she is.

Mac on the other hand decides to fight for everything he feels is wrong, not in the least caring whether his ways are extreme or simply unacceptable. He finds out later that he is admitted in the institution for as long as his treatment may take. He knows that if Ms.Ratched has her way, he will never leave. He decides to escape with his friend 'Chief'. Chief, the narrator of the film, is a patient that pretends to be deaf and dumb. He stays at the hospital simply because he feels he cannot cope with life in the outside world. Mac manages to convince him that he can and they hatch a plan to escape. The relationship between these two roles is one that I find heartwarming. The fact that Mac doesn't give up on Chief and perseveres in getting some sort of reaction from him is amazing. Although one considers Mac to be a useless individual in society, one has to admire him for caring and feeling the need to touch the patients' lives in some way. He befriends everyone, even the surly and patronizing Harding, who feels he needs to be the victim of every situation. Mac's rebellion against the bureaucratic and authoritarian Nurse Ratched, in the end takes his life.

Out of all the characters the one I loved most was that of Martini, a small man with a huge smile. He is perpetually smiling and always happy and does not let anything bother him. Even though he has no role as such in the film, without him, it would have been dry and lifeless. He brings out the funny parts of the movie and makes sure that the morbid theme does not overwhelm the audience.

One of the scenes in this film, which has a huge and very profound impact on the viewer is the death of Billy. The sweet, stuttering, shy boy, who wants to be considered a man, is constantly haunted by his mothers and the nurse's controlling nature. The viewer finally realizes how unfit the nurse is, when she threatens Billy and drives him to