Review of the movie Ratched: When the devil is in an angel’s disguise

In the movie Ratched, star Sarah Paulson transforms into an ambitious nurse Mildred Ratched, who defies all tricks to be able to rise to the position of authority in a mental hospital.

The movie Ratched revolves around the story of the main character – nurse Mildred Ratched (Sarah Paulson). She possesses a beautiful, gentle appearance, but in fact is an extremely ambitious person and dares to defy everything to achieve that. In order to rise to the top of the psychiatric ward, Mildred Ratched used terrible psychological torture methods, forcing them to comply with their orders.

Movie Ratched: The female villain is hard to hate

This is a prequel of the novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, which was adapted into a film of the same name in 1975. The film stars Jack Nicholson as Randall McMurphy ( also known as Mac) – criminals are suspected of having mental signs and are taken to hospital for examination and assessment. Awakened by Mac to a sense of self-worth, the prisoners dared to resist to liberate themselves from the oppression. The film won 5 important Academy Awards including Best Film, Best Male / Female, Best Director, Best Screenplay and ranked 33rd on the American Film Institute’s 100-Movie All-Time List. In the Ratched series, director Ryan Murphy set in the film during a period of American conservatism, psychiatric hospitals were subject to constant supervision by high-ranking officials. LGBT patients or delinquent criminals are treated with special methods such as hydrotherapy or solitary confinement. The heroine of the movie – Mildred Ratched successfully builds the image of a dedicated nurse who is always concerned about everyone around her. However, behind that good image, she was actually hiding the monster inside her. The more deeply they discover the secrets of the psychiatric hospital, the more viewers can feel the monstrosity of Mildred Ratched’s personality.
In the movie Ratched, this famous nurse still remains cold and brutal like the original classic. She prefers to manipulate the thoughts and behavior of others with the form of punishment and psychoactive tricks. However, although the heroine is the villain, Ryan Murphy chooses to approach Mildred Ratched’s character in a positive direction. Through her flashback scenes, the audience somewhat sympathizes with the complicated past, suffering many injuries from the nurse. Through many events, Mildred Ratched gradually changed into a ruthless person, willing to act cruelly to achieve her goal. From the point of view of the heroine, her behavior, though brutal, is completely consistent and easy to understand.
Ratched’s minus lies in the inconsistent film rhythm. The first half builds up the story and the characters’ psychology is quite good, but as the film progresses, the movie becomes in a hurry. Solving the problem too soon with the abuse of plot twist (unexpected situation) to make the story dramatic has the opposite effect. In addition, a few characters in the movie disappeared wastefully, leaving viewers feeling down.