The Battle of Free Will vs Complete Submission...

Rating: 10/10 (30 September 2000)

I saw this movie for the first time a few weeks ago and I was amazed at how true the portrayal of the mental health system is in this movie. The way that the head nurse belittles and degrades the patients and turns their minds to pudding is absolutely astonishing.
Jack Nicholson does an excellent job of portraying a free-thinking man who refuses to bow down to the system and the nurse, especially. The scenes where they go head-to-head, trying to one-up each other are just amazing. She wants to be able to dominate him and his mind, but he doesn't want to give that up. He sees her as a threat to his free will and she sees him as a threat to the entire system. It's just amazing to see the conflict between the two sides.