A Clockwork Orange [R]

Violent but clever young smart-aleck delinquent, Alex De Large gets his kicks with his gang of violent droogs, pounding the pavement at night and getting a strong fix of drink, pornography, Beethoven, and leading his gang in terrible acts of ultra-violence. Finally, after one particularly nasty fix of ultra-violence, Alex is arrested and sentenced to an inordinate amount of jail time for murder. Soon, a chance to get out the clink comes to Alex in the form of being medically treated in an experimental method for “curing” criminals. But when he is released as a reformed citizen, the reaction from society and his “loved-ones” proves to be more of a punishment than the treatment and any jail time. 

Hugely controversial when it was first released and still rather alarming and shocking to this very day, A Clockwork Orange must be Stanley Kubrick’s tour de force; his finest in the extreme. A vivid and shocking cinematic interpretation of Anthony Burgess’ novel, which was famously seen as being unfilmable, this movie really proves that Kubrick was a cinematic giant and genius, though I still stand by my opinion that was also a very sick puppy. Having said that, this story is so twisted and sick by nature that no one could have made a film out of it aside from Kubrick. 

Violent but clever young smart-aleck delinquent, Alex De Large gets his kicks with his gang of droogs; pounding the pavement at night and getting a strong fix of drink, pornography, Beethoven, and leading his gang in acts of terrible ultra-violence. Finally, after one particularly nasty night of ultra-violence, Alex is arrested and sentenced to an inordinate amount of jail time for murder. Soon, a chance to reduce his sentence appears before Alex in the form of being medically treated in an experimental government method to “cure” violence criminals. But when Alex is released into society as a reformed citizen, he finds that his “freedom” is more of a punishment than the torturous treatment or any jail time that he suffered. 

Both a stunning and shockingly vivid interpretation of corruption of all kinds, A Clockwork Orange is a film that has achieved both critical acclaim and controversy. 

Like Hitchcock, Kubrick’s love of and dependence on music is a characteristic of this movie that must be taken note of because it provides the film with atmospheres of drama, suspense, and comedy. The film is set against a classical soundtrack, with the obvious exception of Singin’ In the Rain, which provides black smatterings of comedy and contrariness. 

My personal favourite element of this movie is the script. Without a doubt it is wholly original and fantastically cool. Set against the retro yet futuristic backdrop of a 70s science fiction era, it’s really wonderful to hear these young, artistically clad punks speak in a jagged blend of Russian and English cockney rhyming slang. Hearing terms like “devotchka” “in out” mixed with Shakespearean language as well as that of rhyming and repetition e.g. “welly welly”, “ hi hi” and “eggy wegs” is to me what Beethoven’s Ninth is to the film’s protagonist, just sublime music, probably for the simple fact that, nowadays, common language has become so desecrated and all around shite. 

We must now turn our attention to and applaud Malcolm McDowell who stars as Alex De Large. Now an iconic cult character, Malcolm’s performance was violent, menacing, funny, cultured, and even though he was, by definition, a villain, you’re emphatic and sympathetic towards him the whole way through. His active performance as well as his voice-over narration had the timbre of the suspense of a cat preparing to pounce, or a friend about to reveal a shocking secret; that uneasy feeling of knowing that something incredibly shocking and possible even violent is about to happen. Marvellous, absolutely marvellous! 

Starring Patrick Magee, Michael Bates, Warren Clarke, John Clive, Carl Duering, James Marcus, and Aubrey Morris, A Clockwork Orange is a vivid and truly unique film that I’m proud to have in my collection, though I’m not too big a fan of the master behind it. Filled with violence, amazing sets, beautiful music, sex, drama, corruption, and comedy, it’s a truly stunning film in that it does leave the audience left with no thoughts to think or words to utter.