MYST Post #1: A Clockwork Orange

This film was mentioned earlier this week in class as being particularly uncomfortable to watch, and I have tried to see this movie before, and well, being with my parents and all, movie night was cut short for me. The reason why is because, especially at the beginning parts of the film, there is some uncomfortably violent and particularly uneasy depictions of sexual abuse, the latter of which provoked my parents to turn it off, and until now, I had not seen what happened to the group of misfits in dystopian London. From the well-known Stanley Kubrick, this film from 1971, as the poster reads, entails the adventures of a teenager who loves rape, 'ultra-violence', and the music of Ludwig Van Beethoven, most of which is particularly heavy content for (most) people. A very controversial movie at the time of its release, (it was banned in several countries) it for the most part garnered heavy critical acclaim and was nominated for several Academy Awards.

I recommend that the trailer be watched (embedded below) because it really does a good job of capturing the craziness that goes on in the film. In what seems to be a dystopian England, the kind of things that Alex, our main character and humble narrator, likes to do are typical for a boy of his age, and as so, England has a serious crime issue. Dystopian fiction always has social commentary and here what is present is similar to that of in the Aldous Huxley novel Brave New World, where societal classes are made up of pre-determined and pre-conditioned 'people'. The society in the novel reflects the conditioning they are given as early as embryos to fit in their pre-determined place and the book comments on the fallacies of this kind of society and the inhumanity of doing so. In A Clockwork Orange, (Orang as it turns out, means Man in Malay, the author wrote the book the film in based on when he was in Malaysia) the main character undergoes a treatment to cleanse himself, and others to

follow, of his incessant need to perform "ultra-violence" and how Alex so pleasantly puts it, the ol' "in-n-out". This is done through what the scientists call the 'Ludovico' treatment, leading to one of movies most iconic images (right). Alex is conditioned to associate sex and violence with sickening things, so much so, that he can not think about either or he will become ill. SPOILERS This eventually drives him to attempt to kill himself in an attempt to stop the sickness brought on by one of his triggers. As the word breaks loose about this, the program is deemed inhumane and shut down.END SPOILERS Alex was stripped of his choice to act badly, and that is what the movie attempts the entire movie to say is wrong. It is our choice as humans to act, whether it be maliciously or altruistically, when we are stripped of those choices we are no longer men. Hence a "Clockwork Orange". The commentary here is well done, but by no means is a revolutionary piece of film in that standard, although I can not speak for the novel which the film was based upon.

The themes were very strong throughout the whole movie, and were excellently reinforced by a performance by the most polarizing main character I have ever seen, I am still confused on how I feel. As on par with Kubrick's other films, the movie has a distinctive style and feel, one that I particularly enjoyed and made an otherwise good film an absolutely great one. I can not put it more simply, but it is just so well done. Every scene had fittingly great cinematography and lighting, the best example of which I have linked to the right (WARNING: This scene is very disturbing, but it does cut out before the rape). This is my favorite scene of the movie, which I know seems strange due to how uncomfortable it makes viewers, but the camerawork is great (the dolly work seems like something from a Wes Anderson film)  and the singing that Alex does juxtaposes the brutality with Alex's happiness brilliantly solidifying our view of him and his friends as sadistic sociopaths. The color palette used is mostly bright and warm, which I think reinforces our perspective of Alex who in his head can justify his wrongdoing. Music comes up very often in the film, usually a Beethoven piece again juxtaposed against horrific violence or rape; it is so good in conveying the mindset of our psychotic narrator, which you can even see in the trailer. This leads me to my conclusion that this film is flawless on every aspect from a technical aspect, I am surprised we do not watch this is class, then again, the subject matter has been known to be even too much for adults.

Some moments of the plot near the end are a bit too coincidental for me, the last 30-40 minutes or so are definitely the weakest as they lack the certain strangeness that made the majority so good. It is difficult to say what exactly is missing. Whatever it may be, A Clockwork Orange is such an interesting film that I recommend it to anyone, especially a Kubrick fan, even if they are shy due to the subject matter, it is a technically flawless film with a substantial message that you should, at the least, try to see.

I give this film:

9/10 Glasses of Milk(+)*

*Watch the movie, then you'll get it