Classic that is still very powerful

Rating: 10/10 (17 May 2018)

Directed by Milos Forman and is about Randall Patrick McMurphy (Jack Nicholson) who gets transferred to a mental institution, the mental institution is ran by Nurse Ratched (Louise Fletcher) who oppresses her patients and so the high spirited Randall is forced to stay in a very closed-minded hospital. Jack Nicholson gives an outstanding and charismatic performance as R.P. McMurphy and really sells the role extremely well but most of all I cared about his character despite his flaws and Louise Fletcher does a terrific job as Nurse Ratched and so does everyone else in the film. Mental illness is shown in a very realistic way and the movie itself feels so real, the lighting in this movie feels so natural and it adds the the authenticity to the film, the interactions with the patients are very convincing and a lot of that has to do with the directing of Milos Forman and the performances. For me personally there was not one moment where I felt like the movie dragged and I found the movie very compelling. "Power" is a pretty big subject in the film, Nurse Ratched is very power hungry, Randall views the patients as powerless, Randall powers over the authority or even at the more subtle moments when Randall was fighting one of the guards Chief viewed him as powerless so that's why chief came in and tried to help him, it is something that occurs a lot. From the beginning shot it shows nature with Native American like music playing, in my opinion the music symbolizes the patients with what sounds like someone crying. At the end of the film the music plays again also showing another shot of nature but in a less crying and in a more uplifting tone to show that the patients are not suffering as much now that Chief has broken the window and escaped free. The classical style music the nurses play I think symbolizes power as it powers over the patients which forces them to shout. R.P. McMurphy gives the patients joy and self-esteem as the film progresses and he cares for the people around him for example when Billie committed suicide he could have just left and went off to Canada but he decided to stay and choke Nurse Ratched or even before that when he decides not leave leave at the end of the party because he knew the place would be back to the same if he just left. Nurse Ratched is a villain who believes what she is doing is right but in the same time the film does a great job in making you hate her as she tries to strip away the manhood and distinctivness of the patients. I loved Chief's character development throughout the film, at first he starts out as someone who decides to not speak and pretends to be deaf because he does not want to interact with anyone and he still did (except in front of Randall McMurphy) for most of the movie but as the movie goes on he gains courage from Randall and he gains the courage to escape and utilize his strength which was his strong muscles, the first time he utilizes one of his strengths (which was his height) was in the basketball game. The scene where the supervisor comes in and the patients and Turkle hide is an extremely funny scene but I also felt anxious in the same time thinking if they were to get caught. Let's also not forget the fishing scene where it shows them finally getting to live freely and handle their own and not be in the institute. One of the themes many people may get from this film is societies approach to people with mental illness and you certainly can look at it that way but the even bigger picture is rebelling against the opressor as shown in the movie McMurphy refuses to submit to the institution and he decides to stand his ground to a system that is not doing what is right. This is a film I highly recommend, the film is great in both emotionally and aesthetically and if you haven't checked it out you should.
(btw I haven't read the book)