Tragic and horrifying.

Rating: 10/10 (16 December 2010)

Hard film to watch. I think what's most tragic about Cuckoo's Nest is that people will watch it and won't realize that, in real life, institutions like mental wards really are evil. Nurse Ratched represents authoritative manipulation and corrupt subjugation as a whole. Jack Nicholson was perfect in his role as McMurphy. Wild, free, eccentric...Jack very much is the character. Deep, penetrating writing. And the portrayal of the patients is brilliant too. As well as the acting. I love the scene where they take the boat and Jack introduces the other patients as doctors, and then they make these convincing doctor faces and gestures. The ward patients and the ward doctors are largely what they are because they're playing a role that others suggest they play. To me, that scene conveyed that idea.