One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)

No matter the passage of years and similar subject matter having been attempted in Girl, Interrupted and Changeling, this remains an astonishingly affecting piece of film-making.
Jack Nicholson plays Randall P McMurphy, a criminal who thinks it is a smart move to try to avoid harder prison time by pleading insanity and taking what he expects to be a pleasant vacation at a mental institution.
Once there, he comes under the authority of Nurse Ratched, who takes an immediate dislike to him and seems to make it her personal mission to get the better of him.
Louise Fletcher’s performance is incredible and thoroughly deserving of the Academy Award with which she was rewarded. She is a picture of icy calm, composed but clearly dangerous when crossed and the absolute counterpoint of McMurphy. Nicholson is like a whirling dervish at times, not least when trying to secure enough votes to turn the television over to the baseball and then acting out the entire game when Ratched thwarts his attempts.
The film is very much a product of the counter-cultural era in which it was made. McMurphy is the rebel, the anti-authoritarian, railing against the institutionalism of Ratched, all of which makes it so much more devastating when McMurphy ultimately fails to overcome his nemesis.
The revelation of how mental institutions were run at the time and the fearful power that was wielded by those who ran them caused something of a public outcry. Now, some 35 years on, we are left with the shocking scenes of McMurphy getting ECT, we share his rage at Ratched’s triumphant punishment of Brad Dourif and we stare in disbelief at the shell of a man after a successful lobotomy. The Chief’s escape from the asylum is uplifting, but ultimately the film is a downbeat experience, mercifully leavened by scenes of laughter and camaraderie among the patients. It remains a hugely influential film, with performances, screenwriting and direction of the very highest order, however it is very much a film to watch, appreciate and be affected by rather than one to enjoy.