Excellent satire on psychiatry – a 'goddamned marvel of modern science'.

Rating: 10/10 (26 August 2012)

The theme of this movie is centered on the question of what is insanity, and how people identified as insane should be treated. In all societies, an individual deviating beyond a certain point from the norms of that society is considered insane, but even that raises the question as to who in society decides this. In the post-modern world, this power is held by the psychiatrists who 'secularly' and 'scientifically' decide whether a person is sane or not. The sophisticated phrase 'behavior disorder' is used, instead of 'insanity' – and the treatment is very simple – control of behavior by 'commitment to institution' and forcible administration of tranquilizers. More often than not, the end result is opposite; instead of being cured, the patients become worse and at best kept 'stable' on drugs. The basic plot of the movie revolves around this and the blurring lines between sanity and insanity."In-sanity is better than out-sanity".(John C. Lilly)
McMurphy fakes insanity so that he can avoid the work at the regular prison and take it easy at the institution where he is going to be evaluated, but given his nature - being too cockeyed and overconfident, doesn't know he is landing himself into a trap. Here he meets all kinds of colorful characters – both as fellow inmates as well as the ward nurse who is the most remarkable character because she is so centered on the 'normal' that she is hardly human – more like a cold, ruthless machine, and yet outwardly cordial, a model of 'out-sanity'. It is her cold smile and outwardly pleasant, but relentless by-the-book behavior that provokes McMurphy. This is what sets him on a collision course with nurse Ratched (sounds more like 'wretched') and which will also lead sadly to his own demise.
The other main character is Chief Bromden who is noticeable by his size only and hardly seems to be present because he says nothing and does nothing. It seems as if he is an invisible observer. McMurphy is intrigued by him and tries to draw him out, finally he succeeds and finds that Bromden can hear and talk as well, but has been faking it all along. They become friends because both of them realize they are of one kind – those who want to live as they like and who are basically misfits in civilized culture in which there are in-numerable constraints to behavior. When prompted by McMurphy to escape with him, Bromden doesn't want to because he fears he will be 'consumed' by the outside world like his father. "He did as he pleased. That's why everybody worked on him. I'm not saying they killed him, they just worked on him. The way they are working on you."
When the final confrontation takes place and McMurphy has been turned into a zombie by the authorities because of his violent attack on Ratched; that is when Bromden flips. He finds that the only friend he ever had is 'gone' and that now even the outside world looks like a better proposition than the ward - he finds it better to put McMurphy out of a vegetative and meaningless life and he himself takes flight.. "In a world where many people have learned to accept a kind of Grey nothingness, to strike an unreal series of poses in order to be considered normal...it's difficult to say who is engaged in the greater conspiracy--the criminal, the soldier(warrior), or us." (Stanley Kubrik)