Our ongoing series reviewing the greatest Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror movies. Note that these reviews may contain spoilers.
Directed By: Stanley Kubrick
Produced By: Stanley Kubrick, Si Litvinoff (executive producer), Max L Raab (executive producer), Bernard Williams (executive producer)
Written By: Stanley Kubrick, Anthony Burgess (novel)
Starring: Malcolm McDowell, Warren Clarke, James Marcus, Michael Tarn, Patrick Magee, Sheila Raynor, Philip Stone
Original Release: 1971
Reviewed By: Aaron Hammonds
Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars
Synopsis: A Clockwork Orange tells the story of Alex (Malcolm McDowell), a fun-loving teenager whose ”principal interests are rape, ultra-violence, and Beethoven.” Alex and his gang of ”droogs” (Pete, Georgie, and Dim) love to spend their nights robbing, raping, and attacking everyone and everything in sight (a practice Alex likes to call “the old ultra-violence”), occasionally taking a time-out to partake of drugs and a fight or two with rival gangs. Although they enjoy running with Alex, the gang eventually wants him to relinquish his role as leader, a proposition Alex answers with near-deadly force. One night the gang breaks into a woman’s home to rob & rape her but the woman fights back surprisingly fiercely, and Alex ends up killing her. The droogs smash a milk bottle across Alex’s face, temporarily blinding him while they escape. Thus, Alex is convicted of the woman’s murder alone; however, he is offered the opportunity to undergo an experimental form of aversion therapy to try to convert him into a model citizen. The movie then deals with the repercussions of that decision as Alex attempts to adjust to life in civilized society.
Review/Commentary: Director Stanley Kubrick first put himself on the cinematic map with 1964′s Cold War satire Dr. Strangelove, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (read the Must-Watch List review of that film at this link) and 1968′s science fiction epic 2001: A Space Odyssey (and read the Must-Watch List review of that film at this link). Kubrick was already considered one of the leaders of “the new Hollywood” (the era where the creative power shifted from the studio moguls to the directors) when he released another cinematic icon, A Clockwork Orange…
Although its near-future setting makes the film technically a work of science fiction, Kubrick’s approach to the material was as a social satire, similar to Gene Roddenberry’s intention with the more socially-conscious episodes of Star Trek. The film touches on a wide range of themes relevant to the time, including youth gangs, psychology, the penal system, conservatism vs. liberalism, and the general nature of morality. Its disturbing view of the future is as much a view of its own time.
The idea of youths having too much power, too much freedom, and using that power & freedom to run amok goes back at least to the World War II era; teenagers enjoyed more and more latitude at home while their fathers were away fighting the war & their mothers were stepping out of the house for the first time, working in the factories that produced the weapons of war. Once the war was over, most parents were unable to reign in their children who were enjoying this new-found freedom; the rise of street gangs in the 1950′s seemed to confirm parents’ suspicions about the next generation. Alex and his droogs are the logical extrapolation of post-war America’s fears regarding teenagers.
Many in power in the 1960′s and early 1970′s were proposing the very idea proposed to Alex: mental reconditioning (known in the movie as “the Ludovico technique”) of violent criminals to reshape them into model citizens. The very notion of brainwashing people to make them behave is positively chilling to us today, but the idea itself wasn’t so immediately dismissed back then. Since Richard Condon’s The Machurian Candidate was published in 1954, there had been speculation about mental reconditioning; A Clockwork Orange simply dramatized one possible application. Alex’s reconditioning sequence may have been sensationalized and especially horrific, but the very idea is enough to send a shiver down one’s spine.
Kubrick pulls no punches when it comes to political commentary in the film, depicting both liberals and conservatives as equally evil if left to their own devices. The conservative government sees the new “Ludovico technique” as the most promising way of curbing violent crime, despite its morally repugnant nature. The liberals, embodied by Alex’s victim Frank Alexander, are no better: Mr. Alexander wants to kill Alex in revenge because he is one of the gang’s victims, yet he wants to use Alex’s death to bring an end to the government’s use of the Ludovico technique, willing to commit murder for both personal and political reasons.
It’s frightening how prophetic the film has been, at least in its depiction of modern urban violence. Aside from the bowler hats, Alex and his droogs can easily be pictured walking down any city street, cruising for their next victim, the next bit of “the old ultra-violence.” As shocking as their crimes are, however, Kubrick instills in them a sense of devil-may-care fun and excitement; we almost wish we were doing these things, which makes the film all the more shocking.
As to its place in the realm of science fiction, I would say it fits squarely between 1984 and Brave New World. Orwell envisioned a totalitarian regime which controls all thought and action, whereas Huxley proposed a world where everything, even people, are manufactured with assembly-line precision, leaving people free to pursue any and all hedonistic pursuits. A Clockwork Orange is the godchild of these two concepts: Alex is personal freedom run amok with no concept of moral responsibility, with the government of his world wanting to control people’s thoughts.
A Clockwork Orange is a brutal cinematic experience, but one that any true fan of film should see. Stanley Kubrick went on to create many more classics of the silver screen, but this is one of the ones he will be best remembered for. If you haven’t seen it yet, you really should…
Check out Aaron Hammonds’ blog Aaron’s Movie Madness where he reviews his favorite movies.
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