Milos Forman: A rebel and a visionary

The world of cinema lost of one of its true giants on Friday. Czech-American director Milos Forman had directed not one but two films that picked up the Academy Award for best picture -- a feat equaled only by Francis Ford Coppola and Clint Eastwood among living directors. But unlike the other two all-American industry stalwarts, the odds were always stacked against Forman. Born near Prague in 1932, he witnessed the deaths of both his parents when he was eight. Brought up by two uncles, only much later did he find out the true identity of his biological father, a Jewish architect. These early traumatic experiences, combined with later political upheavals in Eastern Europe, emblazoned in the mind of the young Milos a rebellious artistic disposition and a deep scepticism for authority and institutions. Nowhere is this contempt more apparent than his two masterpieces, both Best Picture winners, “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” (1975) and “Amadeus” (1984). “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” is a searing indictment of how an arbitrary and oppressive set of rules within an insane asylum breaks the people living within it. The film, produced by a young Michael Douglas, went on to win all five major Academy Awards, and cemented Jack Nicholson’s status as one of the greatest actors of our time. The Mozart biopic “Amadeus” turned its focus on how mediocrity and political shenanigans destroy people of unfettered creativity. In the end, neither Salieri’s machinations nor the emperor’s lack of vision could stop Mozart’s legacy from being what it is today, but it came at a steep price -- Mozart died a lonely and painful death at age 35. These themes show up again and again, throughout his lesser known films as well, which include “Valmont” (1989), “The People vs Larry Flynt” (1996), “Man on the Moon” (1999), and “Goya’s Ghosts” (2006). Milos Forman was every bit as visionary as the extraordinary people he made his movies about, and lovers of great films will deeply mourn the death of this poet of nonconformity.