Drama Continued

With a few honorable mentions now named and discussed, I'll move on now to the finalists and winner.  For me, a drama movie is meant to serve the purpose of giving us a look at ourselves from an angle or through a particular lens, allowing us a view we would not normally have.  If done very well, it will compel us to consider or reconsider certain truths that we as individuals have established for ourselves.  The drama film can be used as a tool to exhibit what is inspiring, discouraging, beautiful, ugly and all things in between about humanity.  But when it's a good drama (in the way Big Empty defines good), it won't be spoon fed or obvious.  Which brings me to my second runner up:

3. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)
I'm going outside my previously established timeline (1977 and newer) a little here, but there is good reason.  This movie strongly influenced other works of art that are very relevant to my generation, and plays out with many parallels to culture wars that continue to be waged to this day.

Based on the 1962 novel by Ken Kesey, the movie adaptation is cast in a way that supports the very premise of the film.  Jack Nicholson, though it is earlier in his career, is doing the exact thing that Jack Nicholson is known for doing so well.  His portrayal of Randle McMurphy is loud, brash, boisterous, anti-establishment, non-conformist, and able to portray seriousness in a way that is simultaneously meaningful and hilarious, all while poking a finger in the eye of authority.  So naturally, he's headed for a collision course with the administrators of the mental institution which he has been committed to.  He's not here because he's actually insane, but he wants to avoid an actual prison sentence and this institution was an alternative.  The specifics of how he got here aren't important.  He's here because he's spent his life being the person that is described above, and it was only a matter of time before he ended up in captivity in some form or another.  But it isn't long before he learns that he has landed directly under the thumb of evil, and that is where things get interesting.

The setting and the story later served as the inspiration for the Metallica song 'Welcome Home (Sanitarium)' which is a masterpiece in musical exploration of loneliness and descent into madness brought on by the very institution meant to care for its subject.  Kirk Hammett's soloing in the opening measures perfectly portrays a sense of longing and loneliness against a backdrop of timeless dread.  This is beautifully sad, but later transitions to something dark and ominous that does not resemble the beginning of the song at all.

There is nothing about this institution in Cuckoo's Nest or the people there that telegraph what we're up against.  You can sense something in the environment that is barren, crude, and stifling.  Beyond that, and in great contrast to Nicholson's McMurphy, the chief administrator does not present as threatening or nefarious, quite the contrary.  At the 1 minute 50 second mark of the clip below, Nurse Ratched shows up for her morning shift and seems......normal.

She then proceeds to deliver soul crushing line after line with a pleasant smile and a soft touch that makes her subjects unaware of what they are in the grip of.  They are oblivious in the same way that a fish doesn't know it's wet.

McMurphy is street savvy enough to size her up immediately, but he's at a distinct disadvantage.  He has no leverage over Nurse Ratched and he lacks the vocabulary to articulate what he knows:

Cuckoo's Nest is a cautionary tale about a system playing host to evil so generously that it is afforded the space to present pleasantly and live very comfortably there.  The casting of Louise Fletcher and her subtle yet cunning manipulation of her environment serves as sharp a contrast to Jack Nicholson as one could imagine.  Ultimately, this story at its climax delivers a gut punch where the institution serves as the propagator of the madness it is intended to mitigate.  The real star of this show is the power of choice in an oppressive system when one is confronted with the reality that submission is the only way to survive.  If one determines that submission is, in essence, spiritual death, the threat of actual death may no longer influence one's choices.

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So after that very uplifting review, I'm going to call a timeout before moving on to my first runner up.  I will be shifting gears significantly for the next one and need to cleanse my creative pallet a bit.  Have a Happy Easter and we'll be back soon!