A Clockwork Orange
After taking much heat against my mostly negative review of Stanley Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange, I have finally decided to re-write my review of the film. First of all, let me defend my original point. When I originally saw the film, I was going through a transitional phase of my life. I had been raised with strict morals and religious background, and so when I watched A Clockwork Orange, I was shocked and dismayed. I didn't like the film for its graphic depictions of rape, sex, and violence. Well, after passing the transitional phase (hey... I was 16 then), I have finally found my notch in the film world. I know what I like, and I know what is good (or I like to think I do).
So after receiving multiple e-mails which bashed my opinion and my overall self, I decided to rent Kubrick's visionary film once again. At the same time, I rented Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey. After falling asleep through 2001, I decided to have another look at A Clockwork Orange. After the film ended, I wanted to slap myself, write an apology to everyone who wrote me, and then rewrite the review. I never got around to the two latter parts, but I did slap myself. Finally, after getting one final critique of my review (and I quote: "P.S. Did your mother molest you as a child?") I have determined to write this review.
A Clockwork Orange is arguably Kubrick's best film. My limited viewpoint four years ago handicapped my ability to watch Kubrick's film objectively. Sure, it's offensive, crude, and rude. But that's Kubrick's point. Violence is not pretty, and he doesn't glamorize it like most action films do. The film begins with a shocking scene, narrated by the main character, Alex DeLarge (Malcolm McDowell). The scene depicts a group of four men dressed in white approaching a drunken bum lying in the street. They then proceed to beat him with bats. While shocking, it's only preparing us for what is to come. These droogs, Alex, Dim (Warren Clarke), Tramp (Paul Farrell), and Lodger (Clive Francis), all pretty much follow the same day-to-day schedule. They meet at a psychedelic milk bar, and then go out to commit random acts of violence. It isn't made apparent as to why they do these things, although one may speculate that they think they are cleansing the city of evil. But mostly, they are just out to have fun. They break up a gang-banging session and then beat up the rapers, break into an author's (Patrick Magee) physically-obsessed house and proceed to beat him up and rape his wife (Adrienne Corri). However, he then goes to a music store to pick up an album he has ordered. There, he meets two women, takes them back to his home, and has an orgy with them.
Everything seems to be going fine for them, until Alex makes a fatal mistake. As they proceed through their nightly rituals, the droogs come across a house filled with phallic symbols. The woman inside calls the police when the four ask her to let them in to call someone because their car broke down. She denies them entrance, but Alex climbs in through a window. There, he beats her to death with one of the phallic statues. The cops arrive, and as Alex is leaving, the other three beat him down. They run away, but the cops take Alex in. This begins the mostly satirical part of the film. Prior to this it was mostly just comical violence, but satire is what Kubrick knows best.
Alex is sent to prison to remain there for the rest of his life. However, he is made an offer that he can't refuse: he would be sent free if he was willing to participate in an experiment. He agrees, believing that he can lie his way out of anything. This experiment is quite different though, and he isn't prepared to handle the mental and physical drain it has on him. The object of this particular experiment is to prepare Alex to live out in the city again. The governmental officials strap him into a chair, giving him a shot of some serum. They then clamp his eyelids open, and force him to watch violent and sexual acts portrayed on screen. At first, he finds this amusing, but soon the serum takes its effect: it makes him nauseous. He quickly realizes what the experiment is, and screams to be let go. However, he is powerless.
Kubrick's talent for capturing the shocking visuals is more than apparent in this film. In The Shining, his weird camera angles gave the hotel a more sinister look (although unappropriate). It became a horror film, but of the best kind: psychologically stunning. A Clockwork Orange basis its story on the psyche and the mysterious effects that it can have on people. As Alex is released back into the world, "healed" of his disease, he becomes the target of all the people he injured, including his friends, who have now become policemen. Kubrick has some strange obsession with human dysfunctionality, but his films are almost never boring (only one really comes to mind). They get the message across rather strongly, although sometimes you wish he would remain more subtle. His films almost choke viewers with their messages, and it can sometimes become overwhelming. Thankfully, Kubrick's skilled direction keeps everything under control, and in the end we realize what the message of this movie is: violence is in man's nature. If you take it away or try to harness it, we become lesser human beings.
Of course, this is Kubrick's purpose in life. To create films which show us all of our flaws in glorious detail. It may not be very admirable, when you think about it, but it certainly has created some entertaining movies. When was the last time a movie moved you so much that it made you change your way of life? Well, I've never had a film do that to me (the closest was Schindler's List), and Kubrick seems more fascinated with what's wrong with humanity now, and where we are headed, instead of how we can fix ourselves for the better. Maybe we are supposed to see what is wrong, and then change ourselves. Then again, how can we change if we don't know how? That's one of the eternal questions that possibly may never be answered.
(AHEM)
What makes A Clockwork Orange work so beautifully is Kubrick's inclusion of dark humor. If this film had progressed straight-forwardly, with no humor, it would have been a horrible film. Kubrick adds plenty of of comedic moments, ranging from Alex's strange costumes to his singing "Singin' In The Rain" while kicking a man, and raping his wife. Then, there are the satirical moments, involving mostly the procedures in the prison. But probably the funniest moment in the film comes when Alex takes two women home for an orgy-fest, all performed to the frantic music of "William Tell Overture." The screenplay by Kubrick, based on the book by Anthony Burgess, relies on smart dialogue and symbolic characterizations, both of which lead to some very funny and unusual moments. As a whole, A Clockwork Orange surpasses 2001 and The Shining in power, effectiveness, and emotionally.
A Clockwork Orange was originally rated X for its graphic content. But nowadays, it has received the beloved R rating, and appropriately so. It contains a graphic amount of sex and nudity, along with some startlingly realistic violence. But mostly it is rated R for its strong amount of language and emotional trauma. Kubrick has never been one to go light with his films, and A Clockwork Orange may be his most sinister and shocking to date. It's certainly a change from Dr. Strangelove. Then again, this is his best film to date, and he deserves to be acknowledged for it (it did receive a Best Picture nomination). And again, I apologize to all those readers (yes, all six of them) who read my review and bashed me for it. Now, if you don't mind, apologize to me.