A review of the classic 1975 film “One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest”
This classic film won all five of the top Academy Awards: Best Picture and Best Screenplay plus Best Director (the Czech Milos Forman), Best Actor (Jack Nicholson as rebellious inmate Randle P McMurphy) and Best Actress (Louise Fletcher as the acidic Nurse Ratchet). It is based on the best-selling novel by Ken Kesey, which he wrote after his experiences working in a California Veterans Hospital, and it was filmed in Oregon State Hospital.
It is a powerful work, by turns amusing, moving and tragic. Maybe, for Forman, the hospital was a metaphor for then Communist Czechoslovakia but, for all of us, it is symbolic of a society that struggles to show tolerance and kindness to those who are different and even challenging.
It is a tour de force by the brilliant Nicholson as the central protagonist and victim, but so many minor roles stand out too, notably Will Sampson as the giant chief and newcomers, soon to be stars in their own right, Christopher Lloyd and Danny DeVito.
One of the advantages of being a member of the British Film Institute is that one can often see classics on a big screen again and viewing this film once more, some 50 years after its release, was such a pleasure, concluded with audience applause.
Of course, times change and, like all older moves, this is a work of its time, but I hardly feel that it was necessary for the BFI to provide the warning: “Contains racist and sexist language and outdated depictions of people with mental health issues.”