飞越疯人院影评

飞越疯人院影评 One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest -- A Struggle of Human Nature Among all the movies I have watched in the Film Studies course, the one, which is called One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest, has left the deepest impression on me . Without handsome actors and charming actress, my attention is fully drawn to the plot which contains various conflicts between two groups of people: while one of the group try every means to break the routines seeking for freedom, the other group, on the contrary, are stuck in a groove to firmly support the conventions restricting the release of humans, not only on the physical level, but also spiritual level. In addition, the other point that attracts my interests is the thoughtful ending part of this movie, and it gives audiences enough space to imagine, to think and to reflect. The reasons listed above have attributed to my decision of writing brief comments on this meaningful movie. Here, I will do some reviews about this film in three aspects: title, characters and theme. 1. The Deep Meanings behind the Title If you look up the word ― cuckoo‖ in the dictionary, you will find that the meaning of it is far wider than just simply a kind of bird. When ―cuckoo‖ is used as an adjective, it is defined as crazy. Actually, there are great distinctions between the symbolic meanings of ― cuckoo‖ in the western culture and the Chinese culture. Taking some ancient Chinese poets as examples, in Du Fu’s poem Jin Se, ― stands for a kind of soft, subtle and hazy love, while in Li Bai’cuckoo‖ s outstanding work Shu Dao Nan, ― cuckoo‖ is the representative of a type of sadness to the extreme. Sometimes, the sad crows of ― cuckoo‖ also have the symbolic meaning of homesick. All in all, most of the time it represents a kind of mood, as well as a species of beneficial bird. But in the western culture, they are totally different. Besides what I have mentioned in the beginning of this paragraph, there is also a related phrase in the dictionary called ― cloud cuckoo land‖, and it is interpreted as that if somebody is living in ― cloud cuckoo land‖, it means that they do not understand what a situation is really like, but think it is much better than it is. In fact, this phrase first appeared in a comedy play, which was written by 2 Aristophanes—a distinguished ancient Greek playwright. 2 Aristophanes—a distinguished ancient Greek playwright. And it has been said that this play has already been acclaimed by modern critics as a perfectly realized fantasy remarkable for its mimicry of birds and for the gaiety of its songs. To put all these in a nutshell, the phrase ―cloud cuckoo’ s nest‖ definitely refers to an unrealistically idealistic state where everything is perfect. To some extent, It hints that the person referred to is naive, unaware of reality or deranged in holding such an optimistic belief. In addition, while I was searching information on the Internet, I found that ― cuckoo nest‖ is also on behalf of female genital mutilation. On the basis of the understanding of the various different connotations of the word ― cuckoo‖, the following three conclusions are easily made: First, taking at the face value, this movie appears to be a response to the movie theme of mental illness, but in fact, it is a metaphor of the United States, which is in the process of rapid development, resulting from a monotonous, morbid, depressing, and to some degree, it even has the social characteristic of bondage, making people to be crazy; second, the development of increasingly perfect social management system and the gradually sophisticated system of civilization, appears to be a symbol of modern civilization and perfect world fitted for all humans to live , is actually a castle in the air –because of a loss of freedom, a nd to some extent, a loss of individual spirit; Finally, it also indicates that not everyone would like to be the slave of the fixed system, after all, where there is oppression there is resistance, even if the outcome is an unsatisfactory tragedy. 2. The Symbolic Meanings of Main Characters In this section, I will illustrate my understanding of this movie through three main characters, within which each of them contains deeper meanings and symbolic meanings behind. The first actor that I want to talk about, undoubtedly, is Randle Patrick McMurphy, who plays a role of a hero to save the world in the film. I still clearly remember the scene when McMurphy was just sent to the insane asylum: When 3 the police opened the handcuffs, his laughter was definitely from the bottom of his own heart, not mixed with the slightest false. This seemingly simple scenario, for my part, contains a sharp contrast: in the nurses and the police’s eyes, the laughter of McMurphy is the performance of madness a nd mental disorders; but on the contrary, he himself is laughing for he believes that he has escaped he thinks it is the relative freedom here calling for him, actually he from the real punishment. And does not know what he will face here is the absolute lack of freedom, even worse, from the behaviors to the thoughts, he will face with severe restrictions and constraints. But when he is really aware of his situation, instead of easily giving up his longing and pursuit for freedom, he, on the contrary, with his own feeble strength, unremittingly struggles with the so-called "rules and regulations "in the madhouse, and also, his actions have a subtle but positive effect on the so-called mental patients around him. In short, he is representative of protest, with the ―spark‖ -like force, dreaming a ―can start a prairie fire‖ dream. The second role lingers in my mind is the actress Nurse Mildred Ratched, who is the chief representative of oppression of modern civilization. In the film, she is always neatly dressed in a nurse costume, white and pure, and looks like an angel. But her hair betrays her, as well as exposes her disguise - that she is actually a terrible evil. With her disguised identity, she takes the advantage of the so-called "law of modern civilization‖, managing these once normal people. Rather than sayi ng that these managements are carried out for the order, I would like to define them as the modes of the regulations to deny people's personality, restrict people's freedom, and suppression people's minds. Even worse, for sometimes they even make threats to life itself. On the basis of the brief conclusions above, I have an even deeper understanding of the implied critique meanings of the symbolic meanings of Ratched: In fact, as the executor of the management systems, she herself is also a great tragedy. Because she has already been brainwashed by the model of the system, as a result, she firmly convinces the rules enforced by her own without any doubt. And she insists that 4 the correctness and necessity of these rules are indisputable .Compared with the mentally ill, as a manager, she is actually also in a state of sickness, which further explains that—at that time, the w hole community at the upper management level is at a pathological stage. The last character that I want to mention is Chief Bromden, who is the representative of the pas toral life which has been gradually replaced or destroyed by the Industrialization and modernization. The first time when Chief appears in the movie, as tall and strong as a big mountain, shows a lack of masculinity, just like a child without any thoughts. What’s more, he seems to be greatly frigh tened, and always shows a feeling of cautiousness and carefulness; later, seeing that McMurphy rides on Chief’s shoulder and command the line before him, in order to teach him to play basketball, and he himself just shows his simple-minded and silly, I can not help but laugh loud; but even later, when I know that he is forced by the pressure of reality to play the fool, I understand that the w hole plot implies profound meaning. Apparently, Chief does not really have mental problems, and he just disguises himself, in order to avoid the so-called ― treatment‖. He has no other choice but to choose a negative way to face the repression and bondage. Perhaps he is really afraid, because he knows what their so-called ― treatment‖ means. However, just as one of the sentences in Nicholas Sparks’ s book called The Notebook, "A person can get used to anything, if given enough time", Chief will also get used to such a life. Yes, through disguise, Chief will gradually get used to the non-human-like life, and then, gradually lose his own thoughts. Who will save him? Undoubtedly, it is McMurphy. When the moment that McMurphy is riding on the shoulders of Chief, we should understand that Chief will bring the dream of McMurphy escaping from this "hell on earth. 3. My Understanding of the Theme and My Harvest As a whole, this movie is a reflection of the status of American society at that time, and focuses reedom and individuality. primarily on two themes—f 5 Freedom is one of the eternal themes of humanity, and the pursuit of freedom and the possession of liberty are the rights of everyone. Meanwhile, It is one of the symbols of a civilized country that to protect the citizens right to be freedom. In this film, the psychiatric hospital just stands for the power institution. But under the humanitarian guise, they just use brutal rules to repress human nature, and then, let these once normal people become real ― nerds‖. In fact, these, who accept ― close treatment‖ in a mental hospital, are only the victims of medical experiments, nothing more. McMurphy is dead finally, in the hands of Chief. This definitely is a strong satire and painful tragedy itself. Although the identity of McMurphy is the Messiah when he first comes to this psychiatric hospital, at least I think so, but only a person’s power of resistance is far more than enough. Deat h becomes the ultimate destination of his struggle. However, hope is still on the road, as McMurphy's dream does not die with him, and is forever buried in the grave, never seeing the light of day; but, being taken away by Chief, escaping out of this "hell on earth. " With an objective perspective, the movie writes the tragic fate of the Savior, as well as the criticalness of the social repression of human nature. But on the basis of possessing freedom, I would like to say something more, the real freedom is not equivalent to the absolute freedom. The second theme of this movie is. In the movie, the big nurse Ratched always uses rigid approaches to ― treat‖ the patients, over time; the approaches will definitely stay in a rut. As everyone knows, the world is changing at all times. Rules are man-made, in order to meet the needs of people all the time, rules must be based on the actual situations and be changed at appropriate time. Having a personality, in my opinion, is not to say that just like the current impetuous society: regarding the vulgar as fashion--treating this idea as a kind of personality. These people who are living in the insane asylum lack of individuality, because day after day, they have been brainwashed by various routines and conventions, and gradually lose their minds. And in our today’s life, the so-called "non-mai nstream ", in my opinion, is not the individuality 6 performance either, but the performance of immature and making a fuss. The real personality, I would like to define as this: First, one should have one’s own ideas of all the things happening around him, not so easily to follow the crowd; Second, in one’s life, one must have his own struggles to p ursue goals or direction; Third, there must be a self-planned life, so that every day can be lived fulfilling and meaningful. That is my definition. Put all these in a nutshell, from the movie One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest, I see the struggles of humanity, as well as the hope, even if it is weak. Finally, I would like to use Ling's view on this film as my concluding remarks of this movie: If you think the current system is unreasonable, you can avoid it, but do not oppose it, and you’d better not even oppose it just as the reformist McMur phy, otherwise, your life will be ended up somewhat like McMurphy.( World Cinema Stories 9 )