Nicholson in the mental institution WARNING: SPOILER

Rating: Null/10 (10 March 2000)

I saw this movie for the first time last week when my psychology teacher showed it to us. We had been studying psychological disorders and she figured this would be a good movie to watch. It's about a convict named Randll MacMurphy who gets out of prison by pretending to be crazy. When he is taken to the mental hospital, he meets the other patients and the stern Nurse Ratched. Although this movie was a drama, there were a lot of funny scenes like when we see some of the patients throwing tantrums(it reminded me of an autistic boy who I went to grade school and still go to high school with who threw tantrums all the time in grade school). One interesting character was Chief, the Native American patient, who like MacMurphy, was faking his craziness. He pretended that he couldn't talk or move around well. Another funny scene was when all the staff had gone home for the night and the patients had a party. MacMurphy's friend came and one of the mental patients, whose name was Billy, fell in love with her. When the staff came back that morning, Nurse Ratched discovered Billy and the woman in a bed. Nurse Ratched threatened to call Billy's mother and Billy left (he had obviously killed himself when the patients came in and saw blood all over his body). Angry, MacMurphy strangles Nurse Ratched and she has some doctors take away part of his brain. Chief suffocates him that night so he won't have to live the rest of his life like a "vegetable" and picks up a sink, throws it out the window, and escapes the institution. I really thought it was wonderful how MacMurphy brought some life into all those patients and made them feel appreciated. I didn't like Nurse Ratched at all. She reminded me of a techer I once had.