One Flew over the Cuckoos Nest - Essay Example

 One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest The movie seems to reflect views particularly on a social and humanity aspect. Apart form the plot; focus had been given to the treatment undergone by the mentally disturbed personalities, who in turn suffers at the hands of the antagonist, Nurse Ratched. I personally feel that the Nurse character represents the whole community who might also have a similar outlook over the mentally affected people. This might also be considered as a miniature model of the social problem, which remains for a very long time.

In the sense the inhumane tendency of certain people towards the vulnerable in the society. The protagonist Mac Murphy is portrayed as a man who decides to compensate his days in the prison in terms of becoming a lovable human being, his intention to enter the mental institution creates some doubt in the beginning but later he proves himself to be one among the rare species of human beings. His aim to serve his rest of life serving the mentally affected people becomes clear by the way he accepts them as his friends; creating chances for them to move away from the distress, etc.

But at the end he bears the cross. Where as the antagonist Nurse Ratched, is a reflection of the cruelty existing in the society against the affected people. The cruelty is expressed in such a way that she rubs the wounded portion of the victims with salt; it will frighten any one who has a soft mentality. The protagonist reflects open-mindedness, the other one reflecting power and control. To perform the role of lunatic is not that easy the protagonist carries all the rewards for this aspect.

As far as the setting of the film is concerned, it takes place in a mental asylum, filled with people affected by mental disturbances; the director deserves appreciation for he had brought out the atmosphere which goes in tune with the theme of the plot. The audience will surely develop a sympathetic vision towards the movie. The first ten minutes of the movie has given me the feeling as if I have been watching a real documentation of the mental asylum atmosphere. At the same time it creates a sense of expectation that why did the author has taken this surrounding as a background of the story?. The role of Chief Bromden, in the novel is quiet stressing but he is absolutely missed in the film version, he has been portrayed as a deaf identity, is the actual narrator of this plot, his role as a supportive human for the protagonist seems to be little ambiguous, till the tragic end of Mac Murphy he remains aloof form becoming emotional rather witnessing his friend’s death.

I feel that the author might have made his character deaf implying that he is unable to listen to the roaring of the pain. But a deaf man narrating the story appears unsuitable. There lies the difference between the novel and the film. One more thing is that in the book the author has included several scenes to emphasize the intension of Mac Murphy, that he tries to give relief for the people in the asylum, but in the film version this aspect is not stressed, except with a formal “Hello”, which Murphy says to the mentally affected in the asylum.

In a visual medium the movie has gained more effectiveness, as the settings itself will give a touching effect for the audience, what we see through our eyes has more implications with what we see in our illusions. The setting of the asylum has been described as gloomy in the book but in the film the same effect is missing. Even then the focus over the asylum brings in sympathetic feeling and the performance of the characters in a lunatic role carries the success of the film version. The introduction of Murphy as a tall man in the novel is not meted out in the movie, but Jack Nicholson deserves every one’s appreciation by his wonderful performance.

If I had been given a chance, I could have added some deep intuitions mentioned in the novel, like adding the same dialogues, trying to give the same light effect, portrayed the character of Murphy with more reflections from the novel, such as presenting him with tattoos over his body etc.