"One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" - 10/10

Rating: 10/10 (24 August 2003)

It is widely believed by a number of critics that Milos Forman's 1975 Best Picture-Winner, "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" (only the second film in history to win all five major Academy Awards), is an anti-establishment, anti-conformist, anti-anything. I think it's all of those things, plus the most crucial element that some seem to be overlooking: You can't defeat the human spirit. This film is remarkable in its portrayal of people who are uniquely human, and director Milos Forman knows this, especially during the opening scenes at the hospital when he shows us the patients going about a daily routine of standing in line awaiting medication. Jack Nicholson is brilliant in a winning performance as R.P. McMurphy. As McMurphy, Nicholson is a rebellious con artist who faked insanity to avoid time in jail, and is sent to a mental hospital where he encounters the dispirited patients and runs afoul of Nurse Ratched (Louise Fletcher). McMurphy begins to enlighten many of the patients, including Billy (Brad Dourif) and Chief (Will Sampson), a mute and deaf man who everybody thinks is retarded.
A truly unique film that isn't to be missed.