When Jack could act

Rating: 10/10 (7 May 2014)

It's been about 15 years since I last saw 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest' and it still retains the power it did the first time I saw it. Few films, even during a Renaissance of American films in the 70s, ever created such rich characters full of vitality and insight. A story about repression, repression of the rebel, repression of belief, and repression of the soul and mind; Milos Forman's 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest' will make you laugh, will make you ponder, and will leave you with a sense of melancholy. Most of all though, it will make you want to resist - resist anything that represses or stifles the outcasts, the weird geniuses, the 'losers', the Other...even if you ultimately fail in such resistance. The mere act of resisting is a victory - as it was for Randle McMurphy.
So much has been written about this landmark film from the incredible performances, the great music, the superb writing, Forman's top-notch direction, that I can't really write anything to build upon what better reviewers have long ago written about this masterpiece. Suffice to say, 'One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest' is an essential film for everyone, for everyone who believes in the power of the individual and belief in a just and fair society.