Blog 4: One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

 "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" is a 1975 film directed by Milo 'Forman, which is the adaptation of the novel -of the same name- written by Ken Kesey.

It is very complex to summarize the film because I get excited just thinking about it, so I will present you the beginning, the main plot of this beautiful story. 

A criminal named Randle McMurphy is transferred to a psychiatric hospital because he did not comply with the orders of his bosses in a prison farm. Upon entering the institution he is directed to talk to the director of the psychiatric hospital, who summarizes his criminal history. But, despite his criminal history, Randle was forced to live in a psychiatric hospital merely because he did not comply with the commands of his bosses and not because of his psychiatric condition (that condition never existed since he did not suffer from any disorder, syndrome, etc.). When he was admitted, he had to experience a new daily life before a psychiatric institution that suppressed, in a passive way at the hands of Nurse Ratched, the actions of its patients - like those of Randle himself, Billy Bibbit, Charlie Cheswick, among others - humiliated them, and censured them for their psychiatric condition. In the face of this, Randle reacts like a revolutionary to the authoritarian actions of the nurse, as well as those of the institution itself.

Mental health, authority, and certain institutions are theoretical and practical issues that have caught my attention since I've been in sociology. This film fuses these three themes into an exquisite film, where it materializes the shortcomings of mental health institutions in general, as well as the authoritarian characters in which patients are treated.

It is a very special film for me, it really is very special. That is why I recommend it with all my heart. I spent a lot of time dreaming about the taste this film left me, and it is something I would like to share with you.