Sunday, December 4, 2011

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

     This movie had a lot of problems getting enough money to film, and for good reason.  If I told you that I wanted to make a feature film about an institutionalized man, only during his time while in the institution, you would think I was the crazy one.  How could this be a good film, there is no action, there are no love interests or bad guys.   The story does not sound like the kind of movie that would be remotely interesting.  Yet the movie is fantastic.  It is amazing to watch this man simply get into the lives of institutionalized people who are in a routine and shake their lives up.  It has great character development and the viewer actually knows each of the characters by the end of the movie.  It all happens in about three locations and most of it is them just sitting in a circle, yet it is engaging, it makes you want to know what is going to happen, and how these very different and very extreme personalities can fit together.  It is fun to see how this story was written and how it was converted from the book, there is a lot to be said for a writer that can externalize so many emotions and ideas that are primarily internal (Lawrence Hauben, Bo Goldman, screenplay writers).  Its a great movie, bottom line, watch it.


1 comment:

Jackie Campbell said...

Oh, but there is a bad guy! Every time I have watched this movie I get so angry at that head nurse. She is the force Jack's character fights against, and eventually the one the rest of the crazies end up hating. Love this movie!