Truly interesting and thought provoking.

Rating: 9/10 (7 April 2002)

What exactly is madness? A state of mind that is anything but normal? An understated vice that resides in most of us? A consequence derived from adversity, pain or deprival? The victory of this film exists in stating that whatever madness might be, it does not justify the treatment meted out to people who are deemed mad, unfit and dangerous by the society. For, these people are perhaps as imperfect as the very rigid framework on which our society functions. Driving these heavy points home is perhaps one of the best films of our times.
Jack Nicholson essays the role of Randle McMurphy, a man whose utter lack of resentment (or whatever appeared of it)and liveliness, while he's held as a convict for the assault of a woman, is mistaken for madness by the law. He's consigned to a mental asylum for treatment. For no other reason apart from his being sent to the asylum, he's branded a lunatic just like every other patient, by the doctors and the warden alike. The asylum, with its lifeless atmosphere disappoints an unassuming Randle and with his endeavors, characteristic of a person who wants to make the most of life, he brings himself closer to the patients & injects enthusiasm into the otherwise moribund life they lead. As was expected his manners are not to the least appreciated by Nurse Mildred (Louise Fletcher)and Randle soon realises that the patients are victims of a prejudice that surpasses the actual gravity of their conditions. So much so that the dignity accorded to the people in the asylum is not of patients but that of criminals.
With his uninvited but justified rebellion, Randle helps the patients acquire some self-respect. His peers in the asylum slowly start coming out of the aftermath of the hopeless treatment that had them convinced that they are nothing but a burden on society. He makes them conscious of the individuality which they never thought they possesed.
The irony in the film is that where the doctors failed, Randle succeeds in repairing their souls to a great extent and perhaps in the process saving them from going deeper into the predicament society had created for them. In fact one of the memorable moments in the film is when Randle forces a fellow inmate, who had hitherto acted dumb, to talk. Even as Randle fails to escape from the asylum, something he had decided upon doing, the film still savours to the ideal of liberation by showing that due to Randle at least one inmate realises the futility of being in the asylum and finally escapes.

'One flew over the cuckoo's nest' is perhaps the best satire i've ever seen. Along with Jack Nicholson, Louise Fletcher, Danny DeVito and all the other actors acting as inmates dish out laudable performances. The narrative of the film is superb and its depressing portrayal of social stereotypes ends with an inexplicably ambiguous but definite message of hope. It is a must watch for all Jack Nicholson fans and for all those who have no qualms about witnessing the painful impact of society's prejudice.
9/10