We just rewatched One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest last week. It is an amazing, troubling film, worthy of its five Oscars et al.
It is a story of redemption, of deliverance–a story in which Jack Nicholson’s character, R. P. McMurphy, plays a leading role.
But what struck me in the film is that for all of McMurphy’s agitating, and for all this his own death is a a means of deliverance, it is (surprisingly) Billy Bibbit who is the Christ figure in the film.
We’re keyed into this on a couple of occasions when R. P. shoots a “Jesus Christ” exclamation his way. And his own death seems to be the self-giving that truly turns the tide on the ward.
So while R. P.’s own death is, in its way, redemptive, it seems that it’s redemptive as a following in the way of death that truly turned the story, the death of the would-be minor character Billy Bibbit.
One of my favorite novels. Ken Kesey hated the movie because the enemy was the Nurse. He always said Cuckoo was a Christian Allegory of good and evil. RP is supposed to be the Christ character. The enemy in the novel is the Combine which stands for the American Dream. Check it out on the Kindle.
Interesting insight. Thanks!
How similar and/or different is Billy in the book? The nurse being the enemy seems key to his character’s role in the film.
He is just as endearing as the movie, but BB’s oppression leads to RP fighting back and dying so that Chief could live. Chief is the narrator so the whole book focus is on him and RP.
I can’t watch the movie. Too personal in some scenes for me to handle. I agree it’s a great film. Just hits too close to home. That was a dark time in psychiatric care.