Great Film

Rating: 9/10 (10 December 2011)

One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest was one of the best, if not most depressing films I have ever seen. Jack Nicholson is superb as McMurphy, a charismatic man that fakes mental illness to get out of jail, and instead ends up in a mental hospital. The head nurse in the hospital, Nurse Ratched, played wonderfully by Louise Fletcher is a hard, vindictive woman that is McMurphy's constant antagonist. Nicholson and Fletcher won the Oscar's for best actor and actress for this film, which also claimed Best Picture, and Best Director. The supporting cast was equally strong, especially Danny DeVito, Christopher LLoyd, and Will Sampson as Chief. McMurphy's different views and easy way begin to help the other patients progress. McMurphy grows more and more frustrated with Ratched's strict ways and defies her more and more until things come to a head and Nurse Ratched wins out. She has him lobotomized and turned into a vegetable. Chief mercifully kills his friend and escapes the hospital. The film is a sad, but important look into mental illness, the difficulties in treating it, and the failures of the system we had in place at the time. It is easily one of the best films of all time and despite the serious subject matter, it is a must see film.