One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest (film) - movie review

When the iconic movies of the 1970s are discussed and evaluated, one that is sometimes unaccountably left out is One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, released in 1975, starring Jack Nicholson, and based on the novel by Ken Kesey.

Due in part to my interest in mental health issues, criminology and "counter-cultural" topics, I recently watched the film for the first time in many years. I found that some of my perspectives had changed because of my own experiences.

The plot revolves around the battle of wits between McMurphy (Nicholson) and Nurse Ratched (Louise Fletcher). Naturally, such a struggle between the anti-establishment patient and a figure of authority can be seen as symbolic of wider societal tensions, but this story has a lot of guile and finesse to it. It never overtly descends into straight "system vs the people" territory, and it is seen that the methods of control and oppression are more subtle and insidious. The fact that I didn't see Nurse Ratched as particularly tyrannical in the conventional sense clearly shows that these techniques were "working"!

It took an outsider, in the form of McMurphy, to recognize what was going on, and to begin to challenge the apathy and subservience of the patients. the rigidity of routine and procedures, how they had become institutionalized, and how "divide and conquer" was a central plank of the regime. A striking aspect was the suggestion that the "voluntary" and "committed" patients thought in very much the same way, even when the former had the right to get up and leave.

A secret to watching One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest is to refrain from reading weighty symbolism into every scene, as by doing so the quality of the acting and the writing can be obscured. The fishing trip sequence is particularly entertaining, the more so because it represents a break from the confines of the hospital (the references to "big fish" and "little fish" did register), as are the various basketball games.

Among the sub-texts, the most prominent is the issue of young males being domineered by female authority figures, viewed via the character of Billy, and McMurphy's efforts to help "liberate" him. Perhaps this is all more about individualism and self-realization than broader socio-political conflict. The fate of both McMurphy and Nurse Ratched at the close of the piece maybe conveys to us that nobody wins....