One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

For curious reasons it is only now that I am making the acquaintance of the film adaptation of Ken Kesey's novel. That is astonishing, because the film has been shown countless times on television, and everyone praises it to the skies.

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is indeed a powerful drama, but Kesey himself was dissatisfied with it because it does not take as its starting point the Indian Chief Bromden, the novel's real protagonist. His criticism is only partly justified, for on film you cannot reproduce the point of view of literary fiction. We identify with the characters through their actions, and McMurphy acts. That is why he is the protagonist, and Jack Nicholson is outstanding as the charismatic and rebellious McMurphy.

The film is set in a psychiatric hospital, where the gambler and troublemaker McMurphy makes his entrance. No sooner has he arrived than he starts questioning the way things are done. Nurse Ratched runs the ward with an iron hand, but mental illness does not rule out joy in life and hope for the future. McMurphy tries to convince the other patients of this, but he quickly finds a dangerous adversary in the tight-lipped Ratched.

The film did not strike me as being as moving as I imagine it would have been had I not known the novel and its violent ending.