Complex characterization leads to poignancy, symbolism.

Rating: 10/10 (6 January 2019)

On first viewing it is so easy to see this film as the tragedy of how our individualism is crushed by the system and the man, who in this case is a woman. McMurphy is nothing if not an individualist. Nicholson uses his natural charm to imbue McMurphy with the American iconoclast spirit. One first viewer it is so easy, perhaps too easy, to see Nurse Ratched as a domineering petty bureaucrat who wields power for its own sake. Fletcher is unreasonable in her reasonableness. The characters are strikingly linked. He's freedom and license and chaos. She is control and order and discipline. McMurphy and Ratched are the fire of the 60's being put out by the vinegar of the 70's. This story has survived time because its interest are so of the time it was made. Add in a critique of institutionalization and this is a very good film on first viewing.
It is only on future viewings do you see the true greatness of the film. Ratched has her good points, and McMurphy has his bad points. Yes he an individualist but he is also antisocial. Yes she delights in arbitrary power but she uses it judicially. To the film's great credit I think both characters can be read as anti-villains or anti-heroes and this complex nature makes the drama hit all the harder. They *both* are directly causal in a tragic fate of Billy.
Forman directs with a precision here that is very much need to support the screenplay's nuance. This film just gets better with age.