18. One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest

For a heartfelt emotional journey with laughter and tears watch the timeless classic, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975). This film is brilliant because it demands your humanity and all the complex reasoning that comes with the human condition, for us to recognise the different forms that justice and mercy can take.

In One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (OFOtCN), we follow the story of a man who is admitted to a psychiatric ward to prevent himself from going to prison. On the psychiatric ward he is difficult and presents many challenges for one of the particularly harsh nurses, Nurse Ratched (Louise Fletcher) and encourages the fearful patients to resist the Nurse’s authoritarian nature. Jack Nicholson was cast as the lead, R. P. McMurphy who is quite a character with comical flare. Nicholson’s characterisation of McMurphy adds to the intensity of the film’s power. OFOtCN is based on the 1962 book authored by Ken Kesey and was directed by Milos Forman.

I scored this film 78.5 because of how it challenges perspectives of psychiatric institutions especially the qualities of patients that are residents within them and has remained relevant. It makes us question why people are admitted to these types of hospitals and takes a holistic view at the events in their lives which could have contributed to them struggling to live everyday life outside of hospital. We also see the different coping mechanisms that patients have developed to live with these illnesses. Sometimes the coping mechanisms are not enough and in the film you can see there can sometimes be tragic consequences. OFOtCN makes you challenge your prejudices as the film reaches its conclusion. If you do decide to indulge in watching this film, expect to feel a range of emotions and for it to have an impact on the way you view psychological ailments.

Judging Criteria

SCRIPTURAL INTEGRATION - 20 points: 15

STORY/SCREENPLAY - 10 points: 8

DIRECTOR - 10 points:7.5

CINEMATOGRAPHY - 10 points:7

EDITOR - 10 points:6

PRODUCTION DESIGN - 10 points:7

ORIGINAL MUSIC SCORE or SCORE EFFECTIVENESS (if not original) - 10 points: 6

SOUND DESIGN - 10 points:7

ACTING - 10 points: 8

TOTAL SCORE 100 POINTS. : 78.5