The Revelation of Truth through Humor
By Robert K. Johnston, PhD, and Catherine M. Barsotti

"Which one of you nuts has got any guts?"

Milos Forman's movie, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is considered by many to be the best film of its era. When it came out, it garnered all five top Oscars (Best Picture; Actor - Jack Nicholson; Actress - Louise Fletcher; Director - Milos Forman; and Screenplay - Bo Goldman and Lawrence Hauben) as well as six BAFTA film awards. Cuckoo's Nest is also that rare film that adapted a prize-winning novel, changed it in important ways, and still created a compelling visual story that continues to work.

While both the movie and the novel deal with the theme of individual freedom over and against institutional control, there are important differences worth noting. Ken Kesey's novel is more "mythic" in its intention (cf. the narrator's early words, "It's still the truth even if it didn't happen."). Kesey gives us a classic story of the salvation of humankind through the sacrificial love of another. Forman, on the other hand, is interested more in the political than in the individual, in systems and institutions that enslave. In portraying his story, he chooses, therefore, to be more "realistic" in his portrayal. While Kesey narrates his story through the "fog" of Chief Bromden's paranoid schizophrenic consciousness, for example, Forman eliminates this layering of an "unreliable" narrator. Instead, he chooses to set the tone of his story by the juxtaposition of music and image (the natural sounds and images of Native American music while viewers watch scenes of nature versus the formal, structured texture of baroque music while we are ushered into the highly artificial environs of the mental hospital). Again, rather than make Nurse Ratched simply the mythic personification of evil as Kesey does, Forman chooses to have her sincerely believe that her mission to help the inmates is in their best interest. Her actions, thinks Forman, are all the more terrifying for as in real life, they are based in a distorted goodness (cf., her arriving for work in a black coat over her white uniform).

Likewise, in both the movie and the novel, there are allusions to McMurphy (Jack Nicholson) as a secularized Christ-figure (e.g., his taking his "disciples" on a fishing trip, their "last party/supper" together where wine is served, his sacrificial love which liberates another), and there are different foci. The novel is more concerned with the "salvation" of the inmates through the suffering of another and their growth into full humanity. The movie is more interested in offering a critique of institutions that enslave, while voicing a call for freedom. Kesey's Randle Patrick McMurphy is an almost comic book American "savior," a Superman, a "TV cowboy" ala the Lone Ranger. Forman's McMurphy, on the other hand, is more the con man who fights the system and who comes ultimately to care about and sacrifice for his fellow inmates.

The story endings also differ significantly. Without giving away the climatic scene, one can note that in the movie, as opposed to the novel, there is no need for the "redemption" of Nurse Ratched (for she is no longer the evil "ball crusher"). Neither are most of the inmates "redeemed." Instead of the final confrontation being between the forces of good and evil, we see played out the conflict between the natural and the "societal," the conflict between freedom and order. And the resolution, while satisfying, is less encompassing.

Many of the differences between the novel and the movie can be traced to Forman's particular interests. While Forman has called the movie a political film about America, most will see it as a Czechoslovakian critique of Stalinism and its aftermath. As with The People vs. Larry Flynt (1996), Ragtime (1981), Hair (1979), and even Amadeus (1984), Forman has continued to tell stories that capture the horror of systems that hide their dehumanizing control over individuals under the guise of concern for their well-being. Conformity, under any guise, must be resisted. As Forman has written in his memoirs, "We invent institutions to help make the world just, more rational. Life in society would not be possible without orphanages, schools, courts, government offices and mental hospitals, yet no sooner do they spring into being than they start to control us, regiment us, run our lives. They encourage dependency to perpetuate themselves and are threatened by strong personalities."

In giving voice and image to this theme, Forman contrasts play with work, chaos with control, laughter with seriousness, community with isolation, ordinary individuals with the establishment (the "insane" system). Symbolically, he juxtaposes the sacramental chaos of party-wine that brings laughter, celebration, and community with the Eucharist-like administration of the meds that facilitates control and dehumanizes. In doing this, Forman finds the use of humor a particularly effective tool. On the fishing trip, for example, McMurphy introduces two of the patients to the boat hands as Dr. Cheswick and Dr. Martini. When along with Martini (Danny De Vito) viewers start to smile, we are quickly brought short by McMurphy, "What are you laughing at Martini? You're not an idiot, you're a fisherman." When McMurphy is surprised by Chief Bromden after he offers the huge Native American some gum, we cheer and laugh along with McMurphy as we celebrate their common humanity. And at the final party, we laugh easily as McMurphy and Candy mimic Nurse Ratched, but smile more painfully as Mr. Turkle hides from Nurse Ratched. It is not only the patients who are oppressed by the Combine. Throughout the film there is constant joking about being "crazy or something." But these references only cause viewers to question ever more deeply those societal norms that diminish our humanity. With McMurphy, we find ourselves saying, "If that's what being crazy is, then I'm whacko!"

The use of humor to reveal truth is nowhere better exemplified than in the movie's famous imaginary baseball game. Inspired by McMurphy the patients ask to see the World Series on television. Nurse Ratched, however, refuses to change the schedule to accommodate this, believing that a break in their structured routine would upset the men on the ward. Livid, McMurphy fights back, narrating for his fellow inmates an imaginative World Series game. When Sandy Koufax strikes out Mickey Mantle, there is pandemonium. And we in the audience laugh and cheer along with the men. The sense of celebration and camaraderie is palpable. Through the power of his imagination, McMurphy has created a shared community that is able to break the bonds of a restricted society, even if only for a few minutes. And the smiles and laughter prove humanizing. Ultimately the system exacts a high cost for such hilarious freedom; but the trust and community nurtured is priceless.

Rob Johnston, PhD, and Cathy Barsotti are co-authors of Finding God in the Movies: 33 Films of Reel Faith and co-write film columns in "The Covenant Companion" and "Faith@Work" magazines. Rob teaches theology and culture at Fuller Theological Seminary and Cathy teaches at Centro Hispano de Estudios Teológicos.