A Call to Defend Human Dignity

Rating: 8/10 (27 October 2010)

The movie One Who Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975) is a soulful allegory about the struggle for human dignity. It is set in Oregon State Hospital in Salem, Oregon. Randall Patrick Mc Murphy (Jack Nicholson) is the protagonist who plays a fast whit, foul-mouthed rebel who arrives at the institution for what he thinks is only 68 days, just enough time for him to receive a psychiatric evaluation and then be on his way. The doctors there and the legal authorities think he's been faking his angry tirades and rants just to get out of his work detail at a work farm where he had been serving time for statutory rape. As Randall settles into his life there and befriends the inmates, he immediately begins detest Nurse Mildred Ratcher (Louise Fletcher). Nurse Ratcher is the embodiment of everything Randall has been rebelling against his whole life. She likes routine, is predictable, projects fear and thus runs the ward that way. Describing his disdain for her he says to his psychiatrist Randall exclaims, "She likes a rigged game." She expects the inmates to tow the line and when Randall begins to contest he inspires the other inmates to do the same. Jack Nicholson does a super acting job of playing the rebellious yet heroic mental patient.
When Randall finds out that most of his friends who are mentally ill are there voluntary and he is committed, he begins to further rebel and highlight the injustices that are perpetuated upon the inmates. He advocates loudly that the inmates be allowed to watch the 1963 World Series but is shot down by Nurse Ratcher. When a riot breaks out during group therapy where Mr. Cheswick (Sydney Lassick) demands his cigarettes and an explanation from Nurse Ratcher as to why she withheld them for him. He shouts to her, "I am no little kid!" After this occurrence the following scenes then show what happens when you stand up to authority. You receive shock therapy.
As in the Shawshank Redemption, Randall is continually seeing to escape. He tries to get Chief Bromden, (Will Sampson) to accompany him. However, before he goes he invites his prostitute girlfriend, Candy, and her friend to the asylum for a night of partying. In the morning we see him slumped onto the floor too drunk to even go through the window he unlocked to escape. The sequences of events that follow bring the emotions to a height. Billy Bibbit (Brad Dourif) is found sleeping with Candy in a room and is ridiculed by Nurse Ratcher in front of everyone. He chooses to escape the pain of the moment by committing suicide in the psychiatrist office by slashing his neck. Upon seeing his dead friend, Radall turns on Nurse Ratcher and begins to choke her to death. The scene ends with Nurse Ratcher fitfully coughing after Randall is assaulted by the interns. The camera angle of looking straight down on Nurse Ratcher and her almost demise evokes a feeling of near jubilation.
The movie concludes with, Chief, Randall's friend witnessing his return in the middle of the night from another ward where he had been isolated. He sneaks over to his bed and tells him he is ready to leave with him but is horrified when the lighting revels that the doctors have performed a lobotomy on him. The Chief does the honorable thing and to preserve Randall's human dignity, he mercifully smothers him to death. Afterwards, the Chief escapes almost as a way of freeing not just himself but Randall's spirit. One Who Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is a well theme drama that entreats the audience to have more compassion for the oppressed and to also rise up and confront human tragedy no matter where you find it.