One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, I think, was one of the most powerful movies we have watched all year. Even though the plot and more importantly, setting, were somewhat depressing aspects, there was still comedy and light hearted moments in the film. I think this mix of elements is hard to accomplish and this film does it flawlessly. With that being said, one of the characters that really stood out to me was Chief Bromden. In the beginning of the film he seems really easy to take advantage of since most of the men in the ward make fun of him from the start for being "deaf and dumb". One time where you can see this is in the basketball game scene where Mac tries to convince Chief to participate in the game. Because of the use of the medium shot here, you can see all the other men and their expressions. They are clearly amused and surprised that someone is even talking to Chief. It shows what little faith they have in him.
But this pre conceived notion about Chief is not true. He can talk and hear, but chooses not to. That was interesting to me, as to why he didn't talk for the whole film until the end when Mac gives him a piece of gum. That particular part was intriguing to me because of the close up shots used. I liked how there was the extreme close up of Mac giving Chief the piece of gum and then the pan to his face when he says "juicy fruit". It allowed for the viewer to see Chiefs change here and how all the other men were wrong about him.
Why do you think Chief chooses to stay silent until this point in the film? What effect did this have on you when you see him kill Mac and then escape?
I agree that the Chief is a very interesting character, although I think he would be even more interesting if I read the book since it is told through his perspective. I think that he decides to stay silent for most of the film because no one has shown him any companionship. As you mentioned, all of the patients made fun of him and called him deaf and dumb". McMurphy was the first person who showed any interest in him and slowly broke him out of his shell. It was a really powerful moment when Chief spoke for the first time, but I think it showed him finally learning to trust McMurphy. Their friendship finally gave him a reason to speak. This made it more powerful when the Chief kills McMurphy because it shows how he really cared about him and didn't want him to suffer.
ReplyDeleteI liked how you pointed out that during the basketball scene that all the other men on the court found it strange that McMurphy was even trying to get Chief to understand and communicate with him because they have already written him off solely because of a disability they think he has. I think he stayed silent for most of the film because he needed someone like McMurphy to show some form of friendship. When McMurphy first came to the ward, Chief was the first person that he spoke to, which shows that McMurphy doesn't really care if you have a disability, he wanted to change everyone's life at the hospital. Because of this, I thought that it was, although sad, moving that Chief ended up killing McMurphy because he didn't want to see his friend live the rest of his life damaged like that and unable to help anyone else.
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