One of the Best

Rating: Null/10 (27 March 2003)

There are two points about this film that really strike me. The first is Louise Fletcher's nurse: the most disturbing villain I have ever seen in a movie. Never mind Hannibal Lecter, this woman exudes cold, dreadful malice wrapped up in the most dangerous trait of all: good intentions.
Her character personifies what i believe is the main theme of the film: that the worst crime of all is not violence or depravity or any of the deadly sins as written, but the act of dehumanising another human being. If you will forgive the comparison, I believe this is why we remember the Nazi holocaust as more evil than many more millions killed in battle. The crime of brutal, passionate violence is not as bad as the institutionalised, sanitised removal of a person's identity, dignity and spirit.