The Hunger Games: Mockingjay — Part 1 (2014)

Tags

Action, Drama, Sci-fi

 

 

In District 13, Katniss Everdeen waits,

Unsettled by District 12 citizens’ fates.

Deep under the ground with her saved family,

She worries for Peeta interminably.

Both Plutarch and resolute President Coin

Are eager for her to recover and join.

 

Insisting that Peeta be rescued someday,

Poor Katniss agrees to be their Mockingjay,

The hero for all districts, sure to inspire

The masses and light an unquenchable fire.

Since staged propaganda does not work as well,

She heads to the war zones to get mad as hell.

 

Her anger at Snow for the cruel devastation

Extends to the people who rise from privation.

Yet who should appear on the Capitol screens

But Peeta, denouncing the riotous scenes?

The boy’s brain seems washed, but he still tries to warn

The rebels of sudden barrages that morn.

 

When Capitol power is violently cut,

The rebels move in ere the window is shut.

The three captive tributes that Snow has been holding

Are surely a part of his scheme still unfolding.

Though Katniss is eager for Peeta’s return,

She’s shocked at the lesson Snow wants her to learn.

_________________

 

(Since this is the last day of NaPoWriMo, my reviews will probably be less frequent from now on, but I thought I’d go out on a more well-known film.)

This latest installment of the Hunger Games franchise wasn’t as well-received as its predecessors, and it does stand apart from those films in some crucial ways. For one thing, there are no actual Hunger Games, the televised blood sport that managed to thrill both the citizens of Panem and countless readers and viewers. Instead, the film chooses to focus on District 13 and its commissioning of everyone’s favorite grieving archer to lead the revolt against the Capitol and President Snow. They basically have her do what she’s done in the past: grieve for the fallen, land awesome arrow shots, and make rebellious statements against tyranny, just more forcefully than in the past and this time caught on camera. In this case, there’s quite a bit of Katniss grieving: for the decimated District 12, for Snow’s current victims, for her captive boyfriend Peeta (their love was real; who knew?), and the comparatively brief scenes of action and tension don’t exactly balance out her emotional turmoil. Every time Peeta came on screen and people either booed him or asked what Snow had done to him, I kept wondering why no one considered that he had been brainwashed. That seemed like the most obvious explanation. And of course, the film’s greatest weakness is the stigma of being Part 1, a film in which the first half of a relatively short book is dragged out and concluded on a far from satisfying note.

All that being said, Mockingjay — Part 1 is still an important piece of the franchise, however financially exploitative it may be. The events following Catching Fire are given greater emotional weight, and Jennifer Lawrence continues to project a compelling mix of strength, vulnerability, and concern for both friends and family. While it’s a bit jarring for her to go from fighting for survival to filming propaganda pieces, Katniss’s transition from tribute to freedom fighter feels well-earned and depicts the motivating power that revolutionary media can have on a volatile populace. The film’s best scene is the dam attack in which a haunting folk song (with lyrics drawn from Suzanne Collins’ book) is employed as an anthem of rebellion. “The Hanging Tree” is one of those unique aspects of this franchise that transcends the story itself (like the three-finger salute or that familiar whistle), and it stayed with this viewer much more than Lorde’s Globe-nominated “Yellow Flicker Beat.”

Thus, while it would have been better to film Mockingjay as one film, this one still has merit. We get to meet Julianne Moore as District 13’s President Coin and see more of the late Philip Seymour Hoffman as Plutarch Heavensbee. The few moments of tension certainly are thrilling, and that twist at the end surely took everyone who hadn’t read the books by surprise (even if that’s just me and five other people). While much of the film does feel unnecessarily prolonged, such as Katniss’s repetitive calls to Snow at the climax, I for one was still glad to spend more time with this story and these characters. Plus, the film fulfilled its main purpose; I’ll be there with countless others to see Part 2 this November.

By the way, here’s a musical version for those of you who could use a laugh. This is just one of three hilarious parody videos, all of which are well worth seeing. Enjoy!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=am1tzttZ8Pc

Best line: (Effie Trinket, who apparently wasn’t much in the third book) “They’ll either want to kill you, kiss you, or be you.”

 

Rank: List-Worthy (joining the other two as one series)

 

© 2015 S. G. Liput

302 Followers and Counting

Bottom-Dweller: 5 Centimeters Per Second (2007)

Tags

Animation, Anime, Bottom-Dweller, Drama, Romance

 

(Today’s NaPoWriMo prompt was for a poem written in the form of a review. Perfect for a poet/movie reviewer, right? In this case, I combined my usual poem and review into the single rant below.)

For those who might think I like all animation,

I’ll simply refer to this dreadful creation.

I’ve mentioned before that I cherish the art

And story of Ghibli’s Whisper of the Heart,

And after I saw it, I searched on my own

For anime like it that might be well-known

For a similar quiet and intimate tone.

 

I read some good things about this little flick

From Makoto Shinkai and hoped it would click.

I watched it, this 5 Centimeters Per Second,

And found it was not at all what I had reckoned.

This Japanese drama with praise was anointed.

Did no critic see how delayed and disjointed

This tearjerker is? Was just I disappointed?

 

The film’s broken up into three distinct parts,

With each saying more of the breaking of hearts.

It starts off with promise; two thirteen-year-olds

Are both separated as each life unfolds.

By train, the boy Tono then travels through white,

Through blizzard and blockages to reunite

With distant Akari who waits through the night.

 

This first part alone could have stayed on its own

And is rather sweet, though it’s tedium-prone,

But Parts 2 and 3 are unduly depressing,

With one girl downcast by love she’s not professing,

And then we see Tono grown up, while Akari

Has moved on without him, with both feeling sorry

And gazing at petals and skies dark and starry.

 

The film lasts an hour, with a pace so not vital

It seems twice as long, with less speed than the title,

Which fondly refers to the unhurried crawl

At which cherry blossoms supposedly fall.

When all’s said and done, out of nowhere appears

A strange music video meant to draw tears

To recap this great waste of time for the ears.

 

The film’s greatest strength is the beautiful art,

A treat for the eyes if not quite for the heart.

The landscapes are lovely, replete with details,

But that’s not enough, for the story still fails.

There’s much symbolism with petals and birds,

With launches of space probes and unspoken words,

And some of it’s poignant, though broken in thirds.

 

The imagery may be the film’s biggest draw,

But how it’s employed is a signature flaw.

Most anime’s mingled with peaceful transitions,

A still or an object, like small intermissions,

But actions in this film are drawn out and laced

With tons of these images, ploddingly paced,

Which may bear some beauty but aren’t to my taste.

 

Yet what do I draw from these touching vignettes,

That love sure can stink when it’s full of regrets?

A drama needs more than some symbols about

The fact that some romances just don’t work out.

There aren’t even reasons implied to explain

Why two former lovebirds broke up in such pain.

I grieved by the end, for my hour spent in vain.

 

 

Rank: Bottom-Dweller

 

© 2015 S. G. Liput

302 Followers and Counting

Becoming Jane (2007) (Full Version)

Tags

Drama, History, Romance

 

 

The author Jane Austen

Refused to get lost in

Romance of her own,

Though for that she’s well-known.

__________________

 

(Here’s the full review for the poem I wrote a couple days ago. Since I already have my NaPoWriMo poem for today with X-Men: Days of Future Past, I thought today would be a good day to finish this one.)

Becoming Jane follows in the footsteps of biopics like Cross Creek and Shakespeare in Love in asking, “Why remake an author’s work when you can depict the supposed events in their life that inspired that work?” Anne Hathaway is a lovely Jane Austen, and James McAvoy is a debonair Tom LeFroy, the brief acquaintance from Austen’s life whom the film expands into a full-on would-be love interest. Even if their romance isn’t entirely true to history, Hathaway and McAvoy have all the chemistry they need to make for a heart-throbbing Janeite passion.

It’s a film that seems to have everything going for it: an evocative score, ravishing costumes and production design, compelling cinematography with vivid views of nature and framed scenes shot through corridors, and a cast of renowned thespians, such as James Cromwell, Julie Walters, and Maggie Smith. Its dialogue even bears the eloquent wit and civilized sauciness of Austen’s work, and therein lies an issue for me. As elegant as Austen’s writing is (“accomplished” as McAvoy’s LeFroy judges), its flowery language isn’t as appealing to a modern audience as it once was. Certainly there are plenty of Janeites out there who still swoon over her sophisticated style, and it isn’t as pretentious as The Philadelphia Story, but it takes more effort than usual sometimes to decipher the meaning behind her carefully constructed prose. Perhaps that’s the fault of me, too low-brow to keep up with her urbane language, but I doubt I’m the only one. I keep thinking of Tom Hanks in You’ve Got Mail, rolling his eyes as he slogs through Pride and Prejudice.

Like that film, Becoming Jane borrows the initial setup of her most famous novel, with Jane becoming instantly prejudiced against LeFroy’s arrogance toward her. Scenes involving Jane’s disagreeing parents and a country dance in which she and LeFroy trade polished barbs will certainly remind viewers of past productions of Pride and Prejudice. Yet since Austen is known to have never married, it’s clear that any attraction between the two is doomed to failure; herein lies the film’s uniqueness among Austen-like works. While all of her novels conclude basically with happy endings, such marital felicity was not to be hers, and the film’s final moments highlight the bittersweet sentiments of what-might-have-been. My VC agrees with me about the ornate dialogue but was still brought to tears by the denouement. It’s not necessarily a tragedy, since female independence has its last word over societal convention even if it can’t defy it, but Becoming Jane has its foundation in the real world, a world of desirable affection and indispensable money, a world meant to be perfected by a sadder but wiser novelist.

Best line: (Mrs. Austen, when Jane starts writing instead of attending to a suitor) “Jane!”

(Lady Gresham) “What is she doing?”

(Mr. Wisley, the suitor) “Writing.”

(Lady Gresham) “Can anything be done about it?”

 

 

Rank: List Runner-Up

 

© 2015 S. G. Liput

302 Followers and Counting

Genre Grandeur – X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014) – Rhyme and Reason

Here’s my second review for MovieRob’s dystopian Genre Grandeur. Thanks again, Rob, for letting me participate!

MovieRob

For this month’s next review for Genre Grandeur – Dystopian Movies, here’s a review of X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014) by S.G. Liput of Rhyme and Reason

Thanks again to James of Back to the Viewer for choosing this month’s genre.

Next month’s Genre has been chosen by S.G. Liput of Rhyme and Reason.  We will be reviewing our favorite fantasy/sci-fi animated movies (non-Disney or Pixar) . Please get me your submissions by 25th May by sending them to animated@movierob.net  Try to think out of the box! Great choice S.G.!

Let’s see what S.G. thought of this movie:

__________________________

X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014)

The future is bleak, as most futures are,

For mutants can run but not hide

From versatile Sentinels, stronger by far,

Who hunt mutants down far and wide.

In hopes of preventing this future so grim,

Professor X wants Wolverine

To go back in…

View original post 886 more words

Song of the Sea (2014)

Tags

Animation, Drama, Family, Fantasy

 

 

Children

Are rarely

Prepared for tragedy.

 

Ben’s

Little sister

Can transform magically.

 

Selkies

Sing peace,

Only wearing coats.

 

Saoirse

Needs hers,

Freeing silent throats.

 

Fantasy

And emotion

Animate the ocean.

__________________

 

(Today’s NaPoWriMo prompt was for a hay(na)ku, a haiku variant with three lines, one word in the first, two in the second, and three in the third. In this case, I connected several, and since the word hay(na)ku sounds rather Celtic, even if it probably isn’t, I wrote them for last year’s Song of the Sea.)

Just as The Secret of Kells came out of nowhere when it was nominated for Best Animated Feature in 2009, director Tomm Moore’s second film Song of the Sea was released with little fanfare (at least here in the U.S.) but luckily received another Oscar nod to lend it some added exposure. I very much enjoyed Kells, but this follow-up is even better, with deeper themes and more relatable characters. Like its predecessor, Song of the Sea boasts meticulously hand-drawn animation designed to resemble medieval Celtic art, a haunting Gaelic-infused lullaby sung by a magical child, and an intriguing mix of Christian motifs and Irish mythology. Five years in the making, the animation truly is a wonder; every frame has a beauty and balance, replete with gentle curves, jagged spikes, serene curlicues, and other geometric phenomena. Like Kells, nearly every scene could be a work of art, but here the animation connecting them is smoother and the plot more involving. Even modern sights absent from Kells are opportunities for entrancing symmetry, such as roundabouts and power lines. The character designs are more appealing as well, particularly little Saoirse, one of the cutest animated children since Boo in Monsters, Inc. (It also provides a reliable pronunciation for the Irish word for “freedom,” [SEER-sha]. Who hasn’t wondered how to say it ever since they first saw Saoirse Ronan’s name?)

After the loss of their mother, Ben is bitter toward his mute little sister, who discovers her mystical roots as a selkie, the seal equivalent of a mermaid. When their grief-stricken father (Brendan Gleeson, who was also in The Secret of Kells) finally agrees to send them to the city with their grandmother (Lost alert: Fionnula Flannigan), the children journey cross-country to reunite Saoirse with her selkie coat, encountering various members of the Deenashee, or faerie folk, along the way. This main plot could have been enough for the typical filmmaker, but Moore invests special symbolism in the mythological backstory of the giant Mac Lir, who suffered a great tragedy, and Macha the Owl Witch, his mother who turned him to stone. The story can be taken at face value, but it carries certain parallels to Ben’s family (made explicit in the voice acting) to provide unexpected depth for those looking for it.

Both of Moore’s films have attracted comparisons with the works of Hayao Miyazaki, with their relaxed pacing and earnest natural beauty. Ben’s efforts to reverse the transformative curse of a large-headed witch may remind some of Spirited Away, but Song of the Sea is a far more emotional journey than most of Miyazaki’s films. Through magical intervention, Ben becomes more responsible and aware of his brotherly role, and a maternal moment toward the end could either confuse or extract a few tears. For me, it almost did the latter. The accents and the music clearly mark the film as a product of Ireland, and it fits in well with my personal attraction to everything Celtic (including the actual “Song of the Sea,” which wins a spot in my End Credits Song Hall of Fame). It’s the very definition of an animated gem, the kind of lovingly crafted project that may never attract a vast audience but certainly deserves one.

Best line: (Bronach, the selkie/mother) “My son, remember me in your stories and in your songs. Know that I will always love you, always.”

 

Rank: List-Worthy

 

© 2015 S. G. Liput

302 Followers and Counting!

Genre Grandeur – Harrison Bergeron (1995) – Rhyme and Reason

Tags

Drama, Sci-fi

Here’s my review of Harrison Bergeron for MovieRob’s latest Genre Grandeur of dystopian films. Thanks, Rob!

MovieRob

For this month’s next review for Genre Grandeur – Dystopian Movies, here’s a review of Harrison Bergeron (1995) by S.G. Liput of Rhyme and Reason

Thanks again to James of Back to the Viewer for choosing this month’s genre.

Next month’s Genre has been chosen by S.G. Liput of Rhyme and Reason.  We will be reviewing our favorite fantasy/sci-fi animated movies (non-Disney or Pixar) . Please get me your submissions by 25th May by sending them to animated@movierob.net  Try to think out of the box! Great choice S.G.!

Let’s see what S.G. thought of this movie:

__________________________

Harrison Bergeron

Harrison Bergeron lives in the future,

Where everyone’s forced to be equal and fair.

Those cursed with talent must quench it and wear

A handicap band that will help to impair.

Harrison Bergeron’s blamed as a genius

And wishes that he could be average as well,

Until he discovers that…

View original post 731 more words

The Towering Inferno (1974)

Tags

Action, Disaster, Drama, Thriller

 

 

I am the fire that burns out of sight,

Starting my rampage as merely a wisp.

Celebrate victory into the night;

I will burn you and your spire to a crisp.

 

Why do they build these skyscrapers so high,

Making it simpler with every floor

For me to cut off and trap in the sky

Everyone over my fiery roar?

 

Look at the people who panic and flee,

Visitors boasting illustrious names.

Look at the firemen battling me,

Feeble to fight in the face of my flames.

 

I am inferno, the new height of heat,

No other bastion of bragging is hotter.

Top of the world, Ma! None can defeat

Me or my mayhem, except—oh no—water!

________________

 

(Today’s NaPoWriMo prompt was for a persona poem, one written in the voice of someone/something else. I’ve written a few like that recently, but this film offered another good opportunity.)

Released at the height of the 1970s fascination with disaster films, The Towering Inferno is one of the best films produced by “Master of Disaster” Irwin Allen. Featuring one of those great ensembles of former power players, the film plays as a modern land-based version of the Titanic story. Just as the Titanic set out without enough lifeboats for everyone aboard, the Glass Tower’s builder (William Holden) sees no problem with holding a top-floor party in a 138-story building with no working fire suppression system and later refuses to understand the severity of the situation. Likewise, the Titanic did have all the boats it was required to, just as the corner-cutting engineer (a loathsome Richard Chamberlain) insists that all the systems he installed were “up to code,” which is just not good enough, as the high-reaching disaster starkly proves.

In addition to the danger of irresponsible cost-saving measures, which are most commonly to blame for human-liable disasters, the film is an early realistic tribute to the heroism of firefighters, embodied in Steve McQueen’s Chief Mike O’Halloran. While he at first blames the tower’s architect Doug Roberts (Paul Newman), he wastes no time in taking charge and using everything at his disposal to stop the conflagration and rescue the stranded partygoers, from helicopters to a breeches buoy to a life-risking explosive mission. Not only does it foreshadow more recent firefighter stories, but certain scenes may even remind you of Die Hard or, more soberingly, the 9/11 attacks.

There’s everything you expect from a big disaster movie: building tension, children in danger, ill-fated lovers, lamentable panic, harrowing visual effects (the stars did their own stunts for the wet finale, which was filmed in one take), daring rescues, and an enormous cast of big-ish names, some of which aren’t necessarily safe from flaming death. In addition to the ones above, there are Faye Dunaway, an aging Fred Astaire, Robert Wagner, Robert Vaughn, model Susan Blakely, everyone’s favorite football player O. J. Simpson, Dabney Coleman, and the final film role of Jennifer Jones. Reportedly, Paul Newman and Steve McQueen clashed egos in who would receive top billing, resulting in a clever compromise in the credits, with McQueen’s name on the left but lower than Newman’s. Plus, those who remember 1970s TV might recognize the sheriff from The Waltons (as an electrical worker), Gregory Sierra from Barney Miller (as the bartender), and The Brady Bunch’s Mike Lookinland/Bobby Brady (as a boy in peril).

Rising from its B-movie potential, The Towering Inferno is surprisingly well-done, though not without some faults (a few overlong suspense scenes and victim incompetence), and it won Oscars for Best Cinematography, Editing, and Song, as well as a Best Picture nomination. While I prefer The Poseidon Adventure (which also won Best Song two years prior for “The Morning After,” which was also sung commercially by Maureen McGovern), this film has enough star power and thrills to still entertain. If Jaws made you afraid to go in the water and The Poseidon Adventure turned you off from cruise ships, The Towering Inferno may give you pause the next time you head to the top of a skyscraper.

Best line: (Doug Roberts, to the tower’s ambitious builder) “Don’t you think you’re suffering from an edifice complex?”

VC’s best line: (Doug Roberts) “If you had to cut costs, why didn’t you cut floors instead of corners?”

 

Rank: List-Worthy

 

© 2015 S. G. Liput

299 Followers and Counting

Becoming Jane (2007) (Short Version)

Tags

Drama, History, Romance

The author Jane Austen

Refused to get lost in

Romance of her own,

Though for that she’s well-known.

 ___________________

 

In keeping with NaPoWriMo’s prompt for the day, I wanted to do a Clerihew, an eponymous quatrain poking fun at another person. Since I didn’t have much time today, though, I’m just posting the poem and will have to write the review for Becoming Jane later. Until then….

Wait until Dark (1967)

Tags

Drama, Thriller

 

Dark, be not proud, though some have cause

To fear when you fall, for you’re not that bad.

For those with blind eyes, you’re vexing a tad,

But not so much when all live by your laws.

You’re at your worst when men barge in because

They want some drugs that they can’t seem to find.

It’s hard to tell their truthfulness of mind

When I can’t see their flimsily-veiled flaws.

Thou art slave to caves, blinds, clouds, and Audrey Hepburn

And dost with broken lights and switchblades dwell,

But lighters and fridge doors can your shadow quell,

And thwart your hopeful fortunes, which (yep) turn.

One long night past, with you and deadly men,

And I won’t dare unlock the door again.

__________________

 

(In following today’s NaPoWriMo prompt, today’s poem is a parody/satire poem, in this case of John Donne’s “Death, Be Not Proud.”)

The movies have taught us quite a lot about stranger danger. Innerspace bade us to be wary of sudden injections, or else you may end up with Dennis Quaid inside your body. Twilight Zone: The Movie warned us against hitchhikers, even those as friendly-looking as Dan Aykroyd. And this film, Wait until Dark, teaches us not to accept heroin-filled dolls from people you just met on a transatlantic flight, especially if you have a blind wife and habitually leave your front door unlocked. Such is the setup for the most Hitchcockian film I’ve seen that doesn’t bear his name.

After a coworker recommended this one-room thriller to me, I was intrigued to see the lovely Audrey Hepburn in a less glamorous role, as housewife Susy Hendrix, a damsel in distress who is easily distressed due to her blindness. Her tense performance garnered an Oscar nomination, and, even if some of her reactions seem overacted, she does it well enough to never tip into histrionics. Alan Arkin is outstanding as Mr. Roat, one of the original creepy, single-minded killers with a bad haircut (you know the type), and his character might have become one of the great iconic villains had he benefited from more screen time. Richard Crenna and Jack Weston are also well and good as Roat’s bribed/blackmailed allies.

The main issue with this film is the suspension of disbelief throughout the middle. The movie starts out with a compelling setup and certainly ends well, but the bulk of the plot involves an elaborate ploy by the three baddies to trick Mrs. Hendrix into searching for the missing doll. Not only is it hard to believe that they would go to all that trouble, but Hepburn’s naiveté is equally improbable. She at first seems to immediately accept whoever walks through her door, and, though she proves to be more wise and perceptive than she first appears, her initial gullibility is just one of the film’s plot holes.

Yet once all the subterfuge is over and the narrative builds to its semi-famous climax, it becomes sheer tension. Let’s just say that the finale earns the “Dark” in the title as it morphs from Hitchcock into a precursor to Halloween. Whatever the faults of the film’s middle, the end certainly deserves a watch and teaches that other important movie lesson: just because you stab someone doesn’t mean they’re dead!

Best line: (Susy) “How would you like to do something difficult and terribly dangerous?”   (Gloria, her young helper) “I’d love it!”

  

Rank: List Runner-Up

 

© 2015 S. G. Liput

298 Followers and Counting

Bottom-Dweller: One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975)

Tags

Bottom-Dweller, Drama, Triple A

 

 

When R.P. McMurphy gets bored,

He’s sent to a hospital board

To see if he’s nuts

Or just faking with guts

To reach the relaxed mental ward.

 

He starts to make unstable friends

And bucks what the nurse recommends.

Nurse Ratched cruelly

Won’t let him watch TV,

But Mac sees how far a rule bends.

 

Before ol’ Mac busts out, the bum

Carouses with each crazy chum.

When in comes the nurse,

Words and actions are terse,

But one inmate will not succumb.

___________________

 

Everyone has at least one hugely acclaimed movie that they simply do not like, for whatever reason. “It’s in black and white.” “It’s too boring.” “It’s got subtitles.” “It’s too violent.” “It’s got so-and-so I dislike in it.” “It’s too long or confusing or uninvolving.” Everyone has one, and One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest is mine. Based on Ken Kesey’s novel, this film is an excellent example of how a bottom-dweller can be a good film and still cause a personal distaste, at least for me.

First of all, I want to point out that this film is a great one in terms of strictly filmmaking. It deserved every one of its awards and probably more. Jack Nicholson as R. P. McMurphy and Louise Fletcher as Nurse Ratched won Best Actor and Actress, and the uniformly excellent cast is a who’s who of thespians known for looking rather unhinged or crazy, such as Brad Dourif, Christopher Lloyd, and Vincent Schiavelli (the subway ghost in Ghost). Will Sampson as Chief, William Redfield as Harding, and Danny Devito as Martini are also marvelous, and Sydney Lassick as Cheswick is especially expressive with his psychosis and deserved a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nom that only Dourif received. Cuckoo’s Nest remains one of only three films to win the Big Five: Best Picture, Actor, Actress, Director (Milos Forman), and Screenplay. My objections do not involve its acting or quality, but its characters and how its message is presented.

I suppose the most troubling aspect of the film is its chosen hero and villain. The film’s sentiments obviously lie with McMurphy because he’s got a personality and enjoys the World Series, and someone with a name like Mildred Ratched must be a wretched villain, right? Yet McMurphy is established as a crook and a rapist, lazy and belligerent, right from the beginning, and he’s clearly only there at the asylum to fake his way to an easy confinement (he thinks). He’s meant to represent bucking the system, a rebel to inspire the inmates to try, yet what does he ultimately inspire them to do: chug booze, have sex, cuss like sailors, lose control, euthanize the catatonic? That’s hardly what I would call heroic. In certain scenes, he seems to care about the patients more than the cold nurses, yet he doesn’t help them any more than the staff does, except to have a bit more enjoyment through debauchery.

On the other side of the conflict is Fletcher’s Nurse Ratched, who I consider an antagonist, not a villain. She’s certainly hard-nosed, manipulative, and prone to unwise remarks that make bad situations worse, but when you think about it, she’s simply doing her job as she knows how, even displaying a sense of responsibility to her patients. Her worst moment comes near the end, where she crushes Billy Bibbit’s budding individuality under a domineering thumb, yet she couldn’t know the tragic results of her words. Plus, Billy’s fate is as much McMurphy’s fault for putting him in a situation sure to cause embarrassment in the long run. With her little devil-horn hairdo and glacial demeanor, she’s meant to represent the evil system, but the unstable people she cares for are little more than big children, unable to handle the outside world, and, in my opinion, people in need of the system. I find it laughable that AFI placed her at #5 on their list of movie villains, above truly evil characters like the Joker, Amon Goeth from Schindler’s List, or the demon in The Exorcist. Even at her worst, she’s nothing compared with them.

One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest is a film I can admire for its acting, but every time I think of it, the words “I don’t like it” come to mind. The painting of the irresponsible, foul-mouthed antihero as the good guy and the cold but overly demonized nurse as the bad guy makes it a distasteful experience overall. A much better example of McMurphy’s kind of “inspiring” character would be Andy Dufresne from The Shawshank Redemption. From the beginning, the audience knows (or at least assumes) that he is innocent, and his uplifting rebellion against authority is that of a wronged man yearning to be free rather than a guilty man yearning to play the system so he can continue his criminal life. Perhaps my complaints don’t matter to most. My VC agrees with most of my points, yet still finds much to enjoy, mainly in the performances. She may not classify it as such, but for me, this Oscar-winning classic is still a bottom-dweller.

Best line: (McMurphy, speaking of his shock treatments) “They was giving me ten thousand watts a day, you know, and I’m hot to trot! The next woman takes me on’s gonna light up like a pinball machine and pay off in silver dollars!”

 

Rank:  Bottom-Dweller

 

© 2015 S. G. Liput

297 Followers and Counting