Mark Lisbon
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
This American film made in 1975 is set in the world of an authentic mental hospital. The story begins, when a new patient Randall Patrick McMurphy arrives at the hospital, after being convicted of statutory rape, although almost straight away it is suspected by Dr Spivey and other prison guards of ‘faking it’ so he can escape hard labour at the work farm. When he arrives at the institution he threatens Nurse Ratched straight away with his sheer arrogance, and ideas of freedom and sexuality. McMurphy will offer hope and determination against Nurse Ratched’s oppression. As soon as McMurphy arrives at the institution he meets some very abnormal, and mentally ill people. Firstly he introduces himself to Dale Harding, who is president of the patients council and Billy Bibbit, who seems a very young mentally ill patient. Dale Harding seems relatively sane but there still are some abnormalities about him. He seems to be dominated by his boisterous wife, who intimidates him with her sexuality, and the fact he cant get over his wife’s adultery, affects his self confidence and lowers his morale mainly because of his sexual inadequacy. It is quite possible that Harding is a closeted homosexual. Billy Bibbit on the other hand has some certain characteristics that could be seen as abnormal. He appears very young, mainly due to his persistent stutter and without a doubt suffers from paranoia. This paranoia could be caused by his mother who has intimidated him into behaving younger than his years, and has made him feel a strong sense of guilt. This guilt leads to his downfall when he commits suicide after Nurse Ratched finds out he slept with a prostitute and threatens to tell his mum. McMurphy also meets at first a man who seems to be very abnormal. His name is Chief Bromden and is a half Indian patient, who has been at the institute for the longest and pretended for almost all of his time in the institute to be deaf and dumb, when in fact it is his fear of Nurse Ratched to the reason why he doesn’t speak, and also because other inmates just used to ignore him. McMurphy builds quite a strong relationship with the chief in the institution, and with the help of McMurphy he begins to reassert himself against Nurse Ratched and speak once more, especially of his dreams to go to Canada. Chief Bromden shows more signs of normality as the film progresses, gradually showing more emotion and thought into his acts. It is Chief Bromden who kills McMurphy to put him out of his misery and suffering after a lobotomy was administered to him, so is Chief Bromden really very abnormal? There are other more minor characters who are very abnormal and possess mental illnesses. Charlie Cheswick is an inmate who seems to lack self confidence, and seems to be very neurotic. He was taken to the disturbed ward for shock treatment when he began to protest against ward policies. Martini who is played by Danny De Vito seems to be very immature and possess child-like characteristics, such as constant giggling. He also appears to be very slow and suffers from hallucinations. Bancini is a fifty year old resident in the institution. He is very slow and shows no emotion, almost ‘Frankenstein like’. His brain was damaged during childbirth, which may be a reason he constantly complains he is tired.
