Non-conformity as a Mental Illness.

Rating: Null/10 (7 February 2010)

The story takes place in a time where non-conformity was punished harshly. Since being ostracized by society helped with a feeling of isolation, people like Randall McMurphy (Jack Nicholson) were sent to mental institutions for evaluation. With petty crimes under his belt and a short stint in jail to do, McMurphy thought that this was a way to do easy time. Once there he meets the embodiment of conformity, Nurse Ratched (Louis Fletcher). Her name not coincidently putting in one's mind the words ratchet or retched. Through the interaction with the other patients, the audience comes to realize that we are not much different than those that are in the hospital. This will make one ask the question, "Why are they really there?" This is even addressed by McMurphy when he states that the group of patients that participates in the discussion groups are not crazy. It's obvious that some on the ward require help but the main group that is focused on may not be as "ill" as society says they are. They film goes on to support this by the realization that the patients are voluntary. This seems contradictory but when society makes certain behavior abhorrent, the person affected will feel that they belong there because society says that they should be. The allegory continues with the battle between Nurse Ratched and McMurphy escalating into a near riot to see the World Series, an impromptu fishing trip and the final party/failed escape attempt. All the while McMurphy cultivates a friendship with Chief (Will Sampson). Chief is thought to be a deaf mute but he reveals that he is not to the only one he trusts and cares about, McMurphy. This friendship is shown at the end of the film. After Chief finds that his friend has had a lobotomy, he knows that his friend would not want to live like this. With great love, Chief smothers McMurphy. McMurphy's friendship was also the catalyst for Chief's escape. Chief had realized through his friend that he was a "big" man and that freedom was his only course of action.
The theme of non-conformity as mental illness can also be seen in Girl Interrupted. While on the outside it would seem that a mental institution was an appropriate place for some of these young girls, it is also apparent that help was not given and the only thing they had to hope for was freedom.
The key to the film's greatness, outside of the story itself, is the dialogue and editing. The dialogue is true to the meaning of the film. Anger, sadness, hope and fear are all contained in the words and inflections. The editing served two purposes in this film. They were to highlight the emotions of the patients and to showcase the levels of illness in the ward. Throughout the film the emotional responses are to cause and effect. This means that the editing is to show and emotional effect to an emotional cause. If a patient has an outburst that heightens the tension or lightens the mood, this effect is then shown to state what emotion the outburst was meant to have on the other patients or staff and the audience.
One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest, while being a great film, represents a telling view into the past and how non-conformity was treated.