Holy Hell I love this film.

Rating: 10/10 (14 March 2014)

I could go into great detail about what every shot means; eg. The film opens on a wide shot of a beautiful landscape, a car in the distance, we watch as the car makes it's way towards us and it offers a moment to reflect on the freedom of what we are seeing, for we will soon be incarcerated with mental's all around...
But I'll just stick to the main thing that moves me about this film. For me this film is all about a word, a word which I've never understood, I've asked many people throughout my life to explain themselves when using this word, that's a lot because people throw it around sometimes like it means something, but no one has ever been able to even try and explain what in the giant hole in the ground it means. The word is 'normal', we've all had our normality questioned at some point, whether it's talking, walking, eating, sleeping, jumping or uni-cycling across the Grand Canyon. This leads people, some more than others, to question if they are 'normal', some people don't realise straight away that 'normal' is a bullshit word made up by bullshitters to bullshit the bullshitable.
The film covers Randell P. McMurphy (Mac) , a smart ars con who get's himself put in a mental asylum thinking it will be easier to serve time there than in prison. He meets a group of characters who are so different yet most of them are the same, they are all terrified of the world. Insert an extreme extrovert in with a bunch of extreme introverts and you know it's going to be fun. All the characters are brilliant and fascinating and I could right separate reviews for them all, but let's stick to the film. The film only leaves the confines of the asylum a few times but for the most part it is in one area, the ward, so it's dialogue that drives this film and each scene is a revelation into the mind of the other characters, right from the get go we have a firm idea of what Mac is all about, as he is uncuffed and transferred from police custody he jumps in the air whooping and plants a smacker on the unamused officers cheek. Right from this point I thought "Yep, I like this guy". We are introduced to our first crazy, Chief, Mac attempts conversation but is told by Billy, a young boy with a stutter he is a deaf and dumb Indian. The rest of the characters we get to know through 'therapy sessions' conducted by the films 'bad guy', Nurse Ratchet, if the name Ratchet doesn't give you a clue, she is the controlling and oppressive Head Nurse who seems to take quiet but extreme pleasure in driving this group of men under her heel, in this film both she and Mac meet their match in each other. The first act is Mac trying to annoy Nurse Ratchet, objecting to music and trying to change schedule in order to watch baseball, he meets resistance not only directly form Nurse Ratchet, but the men he finds himself trapped with, having been fed drugs and calmly beaten into submission they are unable (at first) to smell the freedom offered by Mac. The turning point in the film comes when one of the guards reveals when taunted by Mac, that unlike prison, he will not be released until the powers that be (whom include Ratchet) decide he is sane. This presents a problem considering the fact he has made people think he is insane in order to be committed. This leads us to the most powerful point of the film (for me). Mac confronts the other patients for not telling him this was the case. It is then reveled that most of the patients are in the hospital voluntarily and can leave whenever they want.
This for me is the heart of the film, most of these characters have deemed themselves insane and are hiding themselves from the world. Now while crazy people do indeed exist, these guys merely think they are because of societies selfish and mean nature. Instead of embracing bad experiences in their lives, learning, dusting themselves off and moving on they took it as a sign they weren't fit to live as everyone else does. Billy is the prime example of this, a stutter will make anyone self conscious and he tells stories of a love life which stutters like his speech, he is not insane, unless you count wearing your heart on your sleeve a reason to break out the butterfly nets, but from my experience a great many people will tell you that is a wonderful characteristic. So he commits himself thinking it's for the best and Nurse Ratchet, instead of helping him, indulges this belief for her own bloated ego and allowing him to deny himself all life has to offer out of fear.
We all know the end shot of this film, even if it's through the Simpsons references it's got over the years of Chief breaking through the window and running to freedom. Chief is the biggest introvert (literally and figuratively) that has ever been, choosing not to speak, cutting himself off from the world and just not taking part. (Aside from brushing the floor) But in meeting Mac, he sees the error of his ways and offers hope for us all by finding the strength to break free from societies conventions and labels and small mindedness.
That's why I love this film, it remind me of the word 'normal' and the fact this an insane world, and I'm proud to be a part of it.