{"id":603,"date":"2022-08-10T23:14:59","date_gmt":"2022-08-10T23:14:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bexroden.com\/?p=603"},"modified":"2022-08-10T23:14:59","modified_gmt":"2022-08-10T23:14:59","slug":"film-review-one-flew-over-the-cuckoos-nest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bexroden.com\/?p=603","title":{"rendered":"Film Review: \u201cOne Flew Over the Cuckoo\u2019s Nest\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The 1975 film, \u201cOne Flew Over the Cuckoo\u2019s Nest,\u201d directed by Milos Forman, is an award-winning masterpiece based on the novel by Ken Kesey of the same title. It follows the lives of obscurely-diagnosed patients in a mental hospital, posing an overarching question of “what really defines mental instability?”<\/em> The incoming patient, R. P. McMurphy (Jack Nicholson), is initially accused of \u2018faking\u2019 his illness in order to escape the rat race of society and simply spend his life \u2018having a good time;\u2019 yet once in the hands of the institution, and particularly those of Nurse Ratched (Louise Fletcher), his behavior begins to be interpreted by those in charge as symptoms of mental instability. Throughout his stay, McMurphy inspires the men of the ward (many of whom appear to him to be perfectly sane) to regain their manhood and break away from the societal chains which define them as \u2018loonies.\u2019 The patient most inspired by McMurphy\u2019s example is Chief Bromden (Will Sampson), a long-term inhabitant who spent the majority of his time in the hospital pretending to be deaf and mute so as to escape the attention of the nurses, and consequentially, escape many of the systems of mental rehabilitation within the ward as well. It is McMurphy that draws out his voice again, and restores the height of his manhood, his identity as the bloodline heir to the chiefdom of the Native American Chinook tribe. At the end of the film, McMurphy receives a mentally destructive lobotomy as a result of his insubordinate and influential behavior, leaving him in a vegetative state. But his influence remained, and because of McMurphy\u2019s legacy, Chief Bromden feeling “as big as a mountain,” escapes the ward and runs off into a mountainous scenery of freedom. \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the movie stays true to the majority of the novel\u2019s original content, it diverges in several significant cases. The first is the perspective. In the novel, Chief Bromden is the narrator and the audience is able to hear a lot more about his past and the events which led to his admittance into the ward. Because of his heritage, there is a significant emphasis on the Native American side of his identity, which we are not able to see as clearly in the film. In the novel, the audience knows very early on that the Chief is faking his inhibited senses, which helps in comprehending the complexities of his character and his opinions of the institutional systems, but the sudden and unexpected revelation of his wellness in the movie provides is a special kind of excitement that the audience is able to share alongside McMurphy, which is very unique to the film. Another powerful scene, which diverges significantly from its inspiration in the novel, is the fishing trip. The priceless expressions of the men when McMurphy bestows the title “doctor” upon them all is not only unique to the film\u2019s script but also to the visual imagery which it alone can provide. Each man stands taller when he hears the title precede his name, and it becomes evident that McMurphy is not merely hoaxing the port guard, but elevating his companions, and inspiring them to see themselves not as \u2018loonies\u2019 but as they really are\u2014respectable men.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I thought the film was remarkable, and I highly recommend it to any searching viewers. It was well done in every respect: the casing, the visual quality and screenplay, and especially the profound topics it uncovers and explores. It is a film that will leave you pondering for weeks, replaying scenes in your mind, and contemplating the questions and and controversies which it brilliantly brings to light and and to life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

November 26, 2019  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

References:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kesey, Ken. One Flew Over the Cuckoo\u2019s Nest. <\/em>The Viking Press, Inc., New York, 1962. \u201cOne Flew Over the Cuckoo\u2019s Nest.\u201d IMDb, Accessed 20 November 2019, https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0073486\/.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The 1975 film, \u201cOne Flew Over the Cuckoo\u2019s Nest,\u201d directed by Milos Forman, is an award-winning masterpiece based on the novel by Ken Kesey of the same title. It follows the lives of obscurely-diagnosed patients in a mental hospital, posing an overarching question of “what really defines mental instability?” The incoming patient, R. P. McMurphy…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[524,531,537,526,525,530,527,523,529,522,528,538,532],"class_list":["post-603","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-critical-analyses","tag-524","tag-chief-bromden","tag-film-review","tag-jack-nicholson","tag-ken-kesey","tag-louise-fletcher","tag-mcmurphy","tag-milos-forman","tag-nurse-rached","tag-one-flew-over-the-cuckoos-nest","tag-r-p","tag-review","tag-will-sampson"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bexroden.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/603","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bexroden.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bexroden.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bexroden.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bexroden.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=603"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/bexroden.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/603\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":633,"href":"https:\/\/bexroden.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/603\/revisions\/633"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bexroden.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=603"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bexroden.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=603"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bexroden.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=603"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}