The End Of One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest Explained

Viewers can end up pretty confused by a film like One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. Did Mac's revolution actually make a difference? What was Chief trying to accomplish? Does Nurse Ratched represent women in the 1960s? Here's some insight into the ending of the classic film.

Billy Bibbit is a soft-spoken young man with thoughts of killing himself, but he doesn't choose to end his life all on his own. Nurse Ratched talks him into it. When Mac throws a party on the ward with two sex workers, he encourages Billy to make his move on Candy, in whom he'd expressed interest during the boat trip.

Candy, who's likely used to her clients treating her badly, seems genuinely flattered when Billy stutters out his compliments. Their excursion in the supply closet is clearly more than just a meaningless fling. That doesn't matter to Nurse Ratched.

Ratched knows precisely what she's doing when she eviscerates the self-confidence that Mac has been trying to bolster in the young man, making him feel shame for his actions. Instead of addressing the situation in a healthy or helpful way, she threatens to tell his mom, and the dam holding back Billy's self-loathing breaks. As someone who likes to get a rise out of her patients during therapy, Ratched delights in setting off the conditions that landed him in the hospital to begin with.

While her goal may not have been for Billy to die, she knows her manipulation will finally set Mac off and allow her to regain control over the ward. Billy's death is acceptable collateral damage for Ratched if she can get what she wants: a reason to lobotomize McMurphy, and to use Billy as an example of what happens when you rebel.

Watch the video to get more explained about the end of One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest!

#Ratched #OneFlewOverTheCockoosNest

Shame spiral | 0:00
No romance allowed | 1:23
Victims of the system | 2:11
Mercy killing | 3:05
Honoring Mac | 4:10
No consequences | 5:17
Demonizing working women | 6:10
Real-life lobotomies | 7:15
Changing the system | 8:47

Read full article: https://www.looper.com/248807/one-flew-over-the-cuckoos-nest-ending-explained/