The author of this review lives in a country where the members of the national parliament are elected not as individual candidates but on party tickets. As such, once in parliament, they are supposed to vote the party line instead of following their conscience. The parliamentary procedure is adjusted to those political realities, and years of numerous attempts to establish electronic voting were abandoned in favour of a much slower and more primitive method which, on the other hand, provides some spectacle – dozens of hands in the air, allowing the parliamentary whips to immediately spot any dissident or turncoat while giving party leaders another opportunity to display their power. Every time such a spectacle is on the television, I am reminded of a similar scene in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, the 1975 drama directed by Miloš Forman.
The film is based on Ken Kesey’s 1962 counter‑culture novel, which was adapted into a popular stage play in the 1960s and 1970s. The plot, based on the script by Bo Goldman and Laurence Hauben, is set in an Oregon psychiatric hospital in 1963. It begins with the arrival of Randall Patrick McMurphy (played by Jack Nicholson), a small‑time criminal serving a jail sentence for the statutory rape of a 15‑year‑old girl. McMurphy has faked insanity in order to evade hard labour on the prison farm and is brought to the hospital for observation. His plan to spend the remainder of his sentence in the seemingly laxer regime of a psychiatric institution soon confronts an uncomfortable reality – the ward is tightly controlled by Mildred Ratched (played by Louise Fletcher), a soft‑spoken and intelligent supervisory nurse who uses pills, therapy sessions and psychological manipulation to keep the patients – many of them not particularly disturbed or dangerous – docile and unable to think for themselves. The free‑spirited and extroverted McMurphy is not the man to accept this state of affairs, so he quickly begins schemes of his own, determined to have his way in the hospital and to drive Nurse Ratched crazy. Along the way, he befriends the other patients and helps them, slowly or at least partially, to get rid of their frustrations and fears and to begin standing up to Ratched. The nurse responds with measures of her own, and all of this would inevitably lead to a final showdown with tragic consequences.
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest was made immediately after the Watergate scandal and the Vietnam War, at a time when American youth and the American public in general had reached the zenith of their discontent and disillusionment with authority. The anti‑establishment and individualistic message of the film was underlined by the hiring of Miloš Forman, a Czech director who had lived under the totalitarian regime of his native country and was more familiar with the often very subtle techniques with which an individual’s free will can be broken. The psychiatric‑hospital setting was perfect for everything the filmmakers wanted to say – the establishment in this film does not present itself in its old, usual and obviously evil form; instead, it is based in an institution that is supposed to help people rather than eliminate them from society. It is also a very modern and at least superficially humane institution, nominally led by kind‑hearted idealists (the character of McMurphy’s doctor is played by a real‑life psychiatrist) – the patients are allowed supervised furloughs and can enjoy recreational activities; the favourite form of therapy is the seemingly benign and pseudo‑democratic psychoanalytical group session. Most of the patients are, to the protagonist’s utmost surprise, in the hospital of their own will. All of this, however, cannot hide the ugly truth of the totalitarian regime behind this utopian facade – the patients are obviously unhappy with their stay in the institution, but they are also unable to face the real world, having been psychologically conditioned to accept security over freedom. Even the tiniest bit of power, exercised by the nurses and medical staff, has the potential to be abused, as Nurse Ratched shows.
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest belongs to the category of Great Films, but its greatness is definitely not in anything resembling epic scope. Haskell Wexler’s cinematography does not catch much of the world outside the prosaic settings of the psychiatric institution; the music by Jack Nitzsche is easily forgettable and the film even lacks a strong plot. Where this film stands above many others is in its acting. To say that the acting talent was superb would be an understatement. Two of the five major "Oscars" won by this film (Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Actor and Best Actress) show how great a cast was at Miloš Forman’s disposal.
Jack Nicholson here plays one of his many great roles, and many would argue that R.P. McMurphy is the best‑portrayed character in that actor’s career – it not only displays great talent, but it also condenses the hopes, dreams, virtues and flaws of an entire generation. McMurphy is the ultimate embodiment of the 1960s anti‑establishment youth and its ideals – he cherishes freedom, despises absurd rules and is willing to confront authority, not only to satisfy his desires but also to help his fellow man. But the ending also shows the darker side of the baby‑boomers’ story – at the brink of his triumph McMurphy succumbs to alcohol just as idealistic hippies succumbed to drugs, and in the end he indulges in absurd, irrational violence just as the idealists of 1968 turned into the bloodthirsty terrorists of the 1970s.
Such a formidable character required a worthy adversary, and it was provided by Louise Fletcher in the greatest role of that actress’s career. Nurse Ratched is now often cited as one of the most iconic villains in the history of cinema, although her evil is not the classic, obvious wickedness we usually see in films. Louise Fletcher underplays it by being soft‑spoken and radiating a cold, calculating and often fascinating intelligence from her seemingly plain but menacing physical appearance. And she also leaves enough room for different interpretations of her character – Nurse Ratched may be evil from McMurphy’s (and the audience’s) point of view, but from Ratched’s perspective her actions are nothing more than very rational and very efficient ways of serving her patients and the public in general; anyone who prefers authority to anarchy could have some understanding for Ratched at the end when she discovers her neat ward destroyed by an orgy of alcohol and fornication.
The acting abilities of Nicholson and Fletcher are well‑matched by their less‑well‑known colleagues in supporting roles. Some were played by professionals and some by amateurs (including Will Sampson, an Oregon park ranger whose character of Chief is one of the most memorable in cinema history). It is not surprising that many of the unknown actors playing patients would go on to establish themselves as reliable and easily recognisable actors and later achieve great things – that list includes names such as Danny DeVito, Christopher Lloyd and Brad Dourif.
For almost three decades One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest has remained among the greatest films of all time. There are plenty of reasons why it achieved and kept its status, but a simple explanation could be found in its humanity – the film mixes real life with Hollywood with the same ease with which it mixes comedy and drama. It also makes viewers feel sympathy towards the protagonists yet allows them to question both the characters and their actions. This is the reason why the film can be interpreted in many different ways, and on each subsequent viewing something new can be discovered. This is what great films are and what they are supposed to be.
RATING: 9/10 (++++)
(Note: The text in its original form was posted in Usenet newsgroup rec.arts.films.reviews on December 30th 2003)
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