One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975) directed by Milos Forman

AFI Top 100: #33

It took me a while to finally see this film, but One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is a wild and strange dramedy with incredible performances and a great story. However, I am not sure whether I absolutely love or wholeheartedly despise this classic film. It has some elements that make me uneasy and some parts that purposely make you question your own morals, but I think that is what makes this story so great. It can be interpreted different ways to fit what you believe to be the intended message.

The most interesting elements of this film are the performances and overall effect of the film. Jack Nicholson and Louise Fletcher are absolutely the best parts of this film. Even though they both play characters that are wretched people, they are able to embody it very well to work with the decent story and cast. My biggest internal debate is whether I love or hate McMurphy, the main character played by Nicholson. I hate him for being an asshole rapist and the way he treats people. I hate him for selling his girlfriend for sex and abusing women the way he did. I hate him for being slightly racist towards all of the people of color in the film. But I love him for bringing the entire group of patients together in the end to help them form better and healthier relationships with each other. I love him for the satisfying ending that he brought upon himself, bringing the light to a lesser character. And I love him for helping to further the plot efficiently. McMurphy is a very complicated character and even though he is downright despicable in many scenes, there is no doubt that Nicholson was the right choice for this role. The writing, however, makes me not feel for McMurphy as a human being at all, which diverted my attention to some of the more minor characters. Which, one might assume, is what the screenwriters were trying to get the audience to do. In that case, it worked beautifully. I also loved the motif of meeting as a group for the therapy sessions. This was a great part that helped to further the story along nicely.

My issues with this movie include most of the elements of the plot and the way some of the characters were treated. The pacing was very slow in the beginning but thankfully picked up more towards the end when McMurphy was not the main character of interest anymore. This film also started as more of a comedy and could not figure out a distinct tone until the end when it was clear that it was written as a drama. It might be more of a personal preference, but I am not a fan of films that do not have a clear goal in mind for the story. Even though this movie provided plenty of character development, it was not understood that McMurphy was attempting to escape until halfway through. But by that time, I was more focused on the other patients' stories. Notable roles include Danny DeVito and Christopher Lloyd, as they were some of the most interesting characters in the film. Because of the lack of clear goal, the film was excruciatingly long and looking back, many scenes were unnecessary. I also did not appreciate how women were treated in this film. There were no female patients and the only women seen were either old, bitchy nurses or sex-crazed girlfriends with no substance. I am surprised, however, with how well the one Native-American character was treated, as he became the main character after McMurphy had died.

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is a peculiar but interesting story about the patients of a mental health hospital and the man who single-handedly changed their lives forever. While I don't much care for the main character or loose plot, this film contains some of the best performances and most shocking moments that you might ever see on screen.

My Rating: ★★★½