A Clockwork Orange (1971)
Directed by Stanley Kubrick

Film Review

The film that is often cited as Stanley Kubrick's most provocative is also judged to be one of his greatest - a visually stunning work that offers a stark reflection on the prevalence of violence in our supposedly civilised society. Like most of Kubrick's better films, A Clockwork Orange is a sumptuous piece of cinematic art that is enjoyable to watch and yet also highly ambiguous.  It demands the spectator to make his or her own interpretation, and this ambiguity is what gives it its power and its beauty - and also what makes it such a darkly subversive film.

A Clockwork Orange is closely based on a popular short novel of the same title by Anthony Burgess and part of its charm is that it uses the street slang which Burgess invented for his story, a mix of Cockney and Russian ("droog" means "friend", "horrowshow" means "great", etc.).   It was made on a budget of around two million dollars, which is pretty modest when you consider that Kubrick had just spent over ten million dollars making 2001: A Space Odyssey.

In a role that would define (and seriously constrain) his future career Malcolm McDowell plays the psychopath Alex with a mixture of boyish charm and undiluted malevolence.  It is McDowell's tour de force performance that makes the film both intensely alluring and memorable, as well as helping to create the film's distinctive iconography.  Few actors portray cool, intelligent evil as convincingly or as chillingly as McDowell does in certain parts of this film, and yet the character he plays remains, throughout, someone with whom we can sympathise and even grow to like.

A Clockwork Orange has many shocking sequences (including one where a woman is clubbed to death with a gigantic plaster phallus) but the one that is particularly painful to watch is the scene in which Alex rapes a woman (played by Adrienne Corri) in her own home.  What makes this so disturbing is the casual, even playful, way in which the attack is staged, with Alex cheerfully giving his rendition of "Singin' in the Rain" whilst simultaneously molesting the victim and her husband.  The idea of using this particular song was suggested by Malcolm McDowell, the only song to which he knew the words.  Kubrick was so enthused by this inspired touch that he shot the sequence without first enquiring whether he would be given permission to use the song in the film.

Although the film adheres closely to the original novel, the ending is markedly different to what Burgess had intended.  Kubrick based his film on the American edition of the novel, which omitted the final chapter in which Alex chooses to give up violence and thereafter becomes a useful member of society.  Consequently, the film ends with Alex still an unreformed character - something which Burgess, a Catholic, found objectionable (although he was otherwise positive about the film and would later defend it against its critics).

To some extent, Kubrick misses the point of Burgess's novel, which is that, to earn his redemption, a man must be allowed to exercise his free will and choose goodness, not have it brainwashed into him.  Kubrick's film is less about redemption and more an exploration of a fundamental dichotomy in human nature, namely that we abhor violence in real-life and yet we find it acceptable, if not desirable, in our entertainment.   It is also a film that warns of the dangers of governments using extreme measures to try to control violence in society - this is surely a one-way road that leads towards totalitarianism.

Although A Clockwork Orange was well-received by the critics on its initial release it was soon at the heart of a storm of controversy when a spate of alleged copycat crimes were reported in the media.  Kubrick reacted to this by withdrawing the film from circulation in the UK (although it could still be seen in other countries).  The film was not shown again in the UK until after his death in 1999.  It has since transpired that the director had received threatening letters and so his decision to pull the film may have been down to concerns that the attacks portrayed in the film may be visited on himself and his family.

In the twenty-seven year interval between the film's withdrawal in the UK and its long-awaited re-release in the year 2000, A Clockwork Orange acquired a cult status and a reputation as a dangerous film, which is, to some extent, justified.  Whilst the film isn't particularly graphic in its depiction of violence (indeed it is tame by today's standards), its sympathetic portrayal of a cruel psychopath who is addicted to thuggery ensures that it will always be controversial.  What the film does do is to remind us of our ambivalence towards violence - we condemn it in the real world, yet we find it exciting and entertaining when projected onto a screen in front of us.  Is this shameless hypocrisy or something deeply fundamental in our psyche?  Like Alex and his droogies, it seems that we just can't get enough of the old ultra-violence...

Film Synopsis

Alex DeLarge is a Beethoven-loving juvenile delinquent who spends his evenings indulging in orgies of violence with his droogies. This involves beating up rival gangs, breaking into houses and generally having a good time before heading back to the Korova Milk Bar for some nourishing lactose-based refreshment.   Alex's mum and dad have no idea what their wayward son gets up to, and are not even bothered by his poor record of school attendance, unlike his social worker, Mr Deltoid.  Unfortunately, Alex goes a little too far when he assaults and kills a woman with a phallus-shaped statue during one of his nocturnal escapades.  Whilst serving his stretch in prison, Alex hears about an experimental aversion therapy technique which, it is claimed, transforms violent criminals into harmless citizens.  Knowing that by doing so he will be released from prison, Alex volunteers for the treatment, which involves him being given drugs that induce extreme nausea when he sees images of a violent nature.  Apparently cured, Alex leaves prison and returns to his parents, only to find they have let out his room to a stranger.  He is then beaten up by two of his fellow droogies, who, to his abject horror, have become policemen.  Barely conscious, Alex drags himself to the nearest house, not knowing this is the home of one of his earlier victims...