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A Clockwork Orange

11/3/2015

62 Comments

 

B
3.13

In future Britain, charismatic delinquent Alex DeLarge is jailed and volunteers for an experimental aversion therapy developed by the government in an effort to solve society's crime problem - but not all goes according to plan.
Directed by Stanley Kubrik
Starring Malcolm McDowell

  • My empathetic side had no clue with whom to side - Bryan
  • A Clockwork Orange is a new shining example for me of direction elevating story - Sean
  • Clockwork Orange is foundationally ugly, but because of Kubrick, it's always interesting - Jon
Picture
A Clockwork Orange is one of my favorite movies of all time. I sort of wish I hadn't selected it, as I prefer to simply watch it than to write about it. But, I really do think it's a film that any movie enthusiast should experience at least once. 

I love the opening shot... just Alex with the menacing stare, with his three droogies and some Milk... laced with something or other to sharpen them up for a bit of the ultra-violence. It draws you in as the camera pans out. 

Speaking of the camera... one of my favorite things about Kubrick is his continuously stellar choice of shots. For example, when Alex is standing over the homeless man... that close up of Alex as he talks really gives the viewer a sense of him, quickly. The noted pan out is something we see more than just the initial shot... and it works, such as in the theatre when we hear the violence as we slide back from the top of the stage to get the entire view. We even get some quick zooms going on later, as well. I love the short tracking shot following Alex as he passes Mr. Deltoid sitting on the bed. Kubrick was known for being incredibly meticulous, so every thing we get on screen is absolutely deliberate. 

Then there's the music, our old friend Ludwig Van, dominating our ears. But more so, a good bit of Gioachino Rossini. I won't pretend to know my classical sounds at all... but we can't deny how much of the film, especially for Alex, is driven by the music. I'm a big fan of tunes being a powerful part of a film, and the way it's used here with Alex just amplifies it's value. I couldn't even imagine the pain of my favorite music causing me to be physically ill every time I heard it. Away from the classical tracks, we get a good bit of heavy synth work, which is strong and well used throughout.. especially in scenes such as the one with Alex on stage with the woman and when Alex is taking the beating from his droogie turned cops. 

To go the directing and cinematic choices... there's the cast and their performances. Given the satirical like environment, I thought the slightly over the top expressions and tones were all well fit. Malcolm McDowel was superb as Alex. From his initial stare and manical behavior to his narrative voice... he was just all around great in the role.  I don't feel as if anybody was out of place or stood out as inherently bad... and I think that's mostly a testament to Kubrick and how particular he is. If he doesn't like how something or somebody looked in a take, he'll do it again... and again, hundreds of times if need be. While there aren't many well known names in the cast, each part was well played in doing it's part for Alex's story. Patrick Magee did stand out as Mr. Alexander... especially for his facial expression. 

There are multiple stand out scenes worth mentioning. The 'Singing in the Rain' scene is brilliantly done... as it's a situation that's difficult to watch, more so as we're watching a man forced to watch the brutal rape of his wife, but Alex's song and dance add a an unexpected element to it. The record store to the threesome is another fantastically done portion. I think speeding up the sex scene really puts the viewer into the type of high Alex gets from what he's doing, not just in that scene, but in general. The phallic statue fight, his prison registration, and his treatment (and the resulting showcase) all stood out as prominent scenes to me, as well. 

It's hard fro me to knock A Clockwork Orange at all.. but I'm sure some people will point out things like the car drive and the poor looking effects. But considering the technology of the time, and the general style of the movie, I don't see it as an issue at all. Now, I can see some personal tastes not enjoying Kubrick's choices and style... but from a technical standpoint, he's usually pretty spot on... though there are surely things I've missed or ignored due to my unconditional love of the film. 

As for the story itself... A Clockwork Orange is taken from a novel of the same name, by Anthony Burgess. I've never read it, and not sure I ever will... as I'd hate to find myself in conflict between the two. I do know that the novel had another chapter that shows Alex no longer being a sociopath, and being completely well, good and normal. The American version of the novel, however, didn't have the final chapter because the publisher didn't think it'd go over as well with us... and it was this version that Kubrick worked from. Even so, Kubrick said the novels final chapter was too optimistic anyway. Another noteworthy change, is that the novel has Alex struggling with any and all music from the 'treatment', and not just Beethoven's 9th. Not sure why that was changed, as we know how important all music is to Alex, even if the film did highlight Ludwig Van as sacred for him. 

Anyway, It's a grand story... from a young delinquent of the worst kind, with his crimes and punishment, to the government and horrid psychological treatment, and back in full circle, including the house we first saw his sociopathic actions. What I like about plot, is that it sets us up for a redemption story... where we see Alex and how bad he is, and we get the idea that he's going to be reformed and get better... because that's how so many stories seem to go. But, as Kubrick says, that's overly optimistic in most cases... and there is a more realistic feel to how the movie closes with the media attention and Alex still showing his former tendencies once the conditioning had been reversed....even exclaiming that he's now truly cured. 

I'm sure there's plenty to talk about considering morality and human condition, as well as the way we watch and think of violence as we view it in shows and films such as this. Sounds like a chat for the comments, if you all want to take it up. The movie, of course, was controversial due to the extreme sexual violence.  The film was cited in multiple cases in the UK, which also led Kubrick to have WB actually pull the film from theaters. I recall reading somewhere how incredible that was, and how few (if any) other directors could ever have that kind of control over their films or the studio once released and making a profit. 

There is always more to say, but I'll hand it off to you all for discussion. So, with a side note, 3 Floyd's brewery up here near me has a Milk Stout called Miloko (the drug laced Milk), a nod to the movie, including the label. Like this movie, it's received positive reviews! And with that, it's no surprise, that I give A Clockwork Orange an A+, as I consider it a true masterpiece. 

Initial Review by Bobby
62 Comments
Admin
11/3/2015 03:45:11 pm

Saved for replies to the initial review.

Reply
Jon
11/5/2015 02:38:41 am

Ranking Kubrick movies? From least to most (haven't seen the Killing or Barry Lyndon, need to rewatch 2001 for a truer assessment):

Spartacus
Full Metal Jacket
Lolita
Eyes Wide Shut
A Clockwork Orange
The Shining
Dr. Strangelove
Paths of Glory

Reply
Sean
11/5/2015 09:15:43 am

Eyes Wide Shut over this and The Shining???

I've seen less of them, plan to watch 2001 soon but...

The Shining
Full Metal Jacket
A Clockwork Orange
Eyes Wide Shut

Shane
11/5/2015 11:28:32 am

I've given them all the same grade, but I can rank them I suppose.

Full Metal Jacket
The Shining
A Clockwork Orange
Spartacus
Eyes Wide Shut

Jon
11/5/2015 11:36:39 pm

Spartacus is lowest. I could've made that clearer.

Sean
11/6/2015 10:05:33 am

That's on me for skimming, I just saw the list and assumed top meant best.

Sean
11/6/2015 10:06:56 am

Jon, why so low on Full Metal Jacket? Is your thought the same as mine in that it is two distinct movies not 1? I go A+ in boot camp and C in Nam

Bobby
11/6/2015 12:09:58 pm

For me, from best to worst.

A Clockwork Orange
Full Metal Jacket
Shining
Dr. Strangelove
Barry Lyndon
2001: A Space Odyssey
Eyes Wide Shut
Lolita
Spartacus

need to see, Path's of Glory and The Killing... I'm always disappointed in myself when I'm reminded I haven't yet.

As for Full Metal Jacket, the contrast between halves is important and, as with anything Kubrick, very deliberate. But I understand that a lot of people view the 2nd half as a let down, because the first half was so damn good. I encourage another watch for everybody, usually helping get over the initial reaction to the difference.

I also, always wished we could have seen what Kubrick would have done with A.I. I like the movie, but the Kubrick vision and touch probably would have made it a pretty different film, regardless of how hard SS tried to stay true to what he thought Kubrick wanted.

Shane
11/6/2015 01:40:44 pm

I like both halves of Full Metal Jacket, but the switch-up is so jarring that it feels incomplete.

Bryan
11/6/2015 01:52:53 pm

I've only seen Spartacus and The Shining, but both in HS c

Bryan
11/3/2015 03:49:49 pm

I spent the first 40 minutes of this film thinking it was the inspiration for "No Country for Old Men", a narcissistic, sad view of a man and the world shamelessly slaughtering and pillaging for no reason.

Then Alex is arrested and my empathetic side had no clue with whom to side as the doctor is torturing him. Playing backwards through the film as Alex is tortured by the same people whom he tortured continued the wavering in my brain.

The rape and fighting scenes were painful to watch, but they never crossed a line into unwatchable that many of today's movie feast on.

I didn't notice all the camera work which everyone seems to think is so fancy, but it seems to work as I wasn't distracted and I was engaged. I'd watch this one again.

B

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Bobby
11/3/2015 04:12:31 pm

Being your first time watching it, it makes sense that you were engaged by the movie, and not distracted by any particular shot or stylistic choice. As I stated, Kubrick was so deliberate with what he wanted the camera to show... and I think your experience shows that it worked. I've seen this enough times now, that I purposefully paid more attention to other things. Go, Kubrick!

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Jon
11/5/2015 02:39:54 am

This is a tough movie, but as far as crossing into unwatchable, some tasteful edits kept that from happening. I can assume what's going to happen next without having my nose rubbed in it.

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Sean
11/5/2015 09:17:22 am

Tasteful edits.

Didn't most of you guys bitch that focusing on Theon's sobbing face while Sansa got raped was a bad move? I couldn't help but think of that scene during the Singin in the Rain rape.

Shane
11/5/2015 11:30:35 am

Good call, Sean. This is far more brutal.

However, I think the biggest complaint was Sansa's pain was somehow denied because Theon was suffering too. Which might be true for simpletons who can't have more than one thought running in their head.

Jon
11/5/2015 11:38:17 pm

My preferred edit for Sansa was just to skip the whole thing and have it implied in the next episode, which is similar to what Kubrick does at the end of the Singing in the Rain scene.

Bryan
11/6/2015 08:07:03 am

Well said. There is a lot of mental anguish in this movie, but it's not explicit.

Bobby
11/6/2015 12:56:29 pm

I think the situations surrounding the two scenes, and where viewers are at with the characters involved, make them vastly different. GoT really felt like they wanted the shock value more than any plot value... it's not like it was telling us anything new about Ramsay or adding any value to Sansa's story. So i think the issue was with the scene as a whole, and misused plot device, more than just the cut to Theon's face.

In A Clockwork Orange, it's important to set the tone for Alex and the impact/role of violence for the film. The cut to Mr. Alexander is also setting up his reaction when we revisit him later in the film. No, it doesn't make it easy to watch or glorify the act, but I don't think it's on the level of GoT in terms of gratuitous and simply unnecessary (especially that it never seemed to matter moving forward, though perhaps, I guess, that happens next season)

Shane
11/6/2015 01:42:01 pm

I think the anguish is explicit. We're watching a guy watch his wife be fucking fondled. I don't know how much more explicit you can get without making this X-Rated.

Bobby
11/6/2015 01:44:28 pm

It was given the X rating back then.

Bryan
11/6/2015 01:55:06 pm

Maybe explicit isn't the right word. Looking for a creative word about actual being shown on screen.... Vulgar?

Shane
11/6/2015 02:39:17 pm

I'm just arguing it was as bad if not worse than the Sansa scene is all.

Bryan
11/6/2015 03:50:44 pm

I disagree. Leaving it up to the viewer is a better direction choice than visual exploitation.

Shane
11/6/2015 04:10:45 pm

So watching a women be fondled and groped and turning away was worse than not watching that?

Bryan
11/6/2015 05:01:06 pm

The Sansa seen was unwatchable. I don't think Kubrick got there. Close and it made my stomach turn, but I don't think it was as bad.

Sean
11/9/2015 03:03:00 pm

Sansa's age and history maybe contribute to that Bryan? This was much more explicit.

Drew
11/3/2015 04:42:20 pm

Weird. Depressing.

Those two words best describe A Clockwork Orange. This was one of the most outrageous, over the top, and flat out odd ways to tell a story. Stanley Kubrick’s style may work for others but not for me.

The story in and of itself was somewhat interesting but the gang violence and raping was glorified. That was how Alex and his “Droogs” got their kicks. They lurked in the night for women to rape, and people to beat and loot. Had it not been for a mutiny, Alex would have gotten away with another theft, rape, and murder. That was good? Absolutely not.

Furthermore, Kubrick depicted women – despite the doctor’s assistant – as objects, weak, and sex crazed. The cat lady with the penis sculpture, the two women Alex wooed to get into his bed eating some penis – looking dessert, their inability to effectively fight back, their sexual display of wall portraits, the statues in the milk bar, and Alex’s constant crying mother. How can anyone not draw that conclusion?

An argument could be made that Kubrick did that to show Alex’s reformation. That is slightly plausible but was the beating and the topless woman scene necessary? This could have been done in a different manner.

Clockwork was also depressing. To see him rejected by his family when he returns from rehab, the husband beaten by Alex and to watch his wife gang raped, Alex forced to watch the films, the old man beaten, Alex almost drowning, and his response to Beethoven’s 9th Symphony when he was captive was too much.

It was difficult to watch the film and not think Kubrick had a message. What exactly was it? Too much sex and violence in our culture? Rehabilitation versus incarceration? Bad government health care? Karma? All of these?

Clockwork was not a complete failure in my eyes because of its satire. Those parts were marginally comedic but it was too raunchy, weird, and exploitive.

Grade: D-

Reply
Jon
11/5/2015 02:47:13 am

How was anything glorified in this movie? Does Kubrick think home invasion and bum-beating is cool? Depiction =/= endorsement.

You're closer with the female depiction, but the cat lady and the record store girls were adults who made decisions to decorate their home in that way, or have sex with Alex. I don't think those decisions negatively impact how they're viewed at all. Alex's mom is weak, but so is his dad.

The scenes after his treatment totally worked. The casting of the man with the most punchable face in England was perfect, though the woman was the definition of objectification. They needed to demonstrate the most base instincts possible, self-defense and attraction, and Alex's inability to entertain either were ably communicated.

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Sean
11/5/2015 09:18:47 am

I've had the depiction =/= endorsement convo with Drew before and left unsatisfied.

Drew
11/5/2015 10:53:37 am

I agree that depiction is nonequivalent to endorsement. Dig deeper into what I wrote instead of the scratching the surface with bum - beating and home invasion.

Of course they negated the image of women. Why did she have to decorate her home in that sexual sense? Furthermore, why was it required for the record store girls to eat anything? Kubrick had a derogatory opinion of women and his display was quite clear.

Alex could have demonstrated the most "base instincts possible, self - defense and attraction" through a different method. Why not a verbal berating for self - defense? The "old Alex" would have beaten anyone who dared such action. Attraction could have been addressed with a woman dressed normally. Men do not need a bare naked woman to feel such emotion.

Unsatisfied, Sean? That will ruin my reputation!

Shane
11/5/2015 04:09:25 pm

So how was the rape glorified?

Sean
11/5/2015 04:11:46 pm

I suppose you've explained better this time, your suggestions for alternatives make a less interesting movie though

Bobby
11/6/2015 02:13:23 pm

Agreed, Jon. The decor and choices of the record store women aren't negative depictions. I don't think anybody can fairly blanket it as misogynistic, unless they're choosing to deny women their own sexual agency and expression. But with that, remember we're getting our entire story from Alex's view/narration, and he clearly is willing to strip everybody, especially women, of their own agency. I think what we see about everybody he introduces us to, totally makes sense through his eyes.

Sean
11/7/2015 12:33:14 am

Bobby is arguing that he'd rather see a woman's clothes cut off than hear whimpering off screen

Bobby
11/6/2015 12:20:06 pm

There is absolutely no glorification of the violence. Here's Kubrick's reply to that line of thought:

""The violence in the story has to be given sufficient dramatic weight so that the moral dilemma it poses can be seen in the right context", otherwise the viewer would not reach a "meaningful conclusion about relative rights and wrongs". The State cannot turn even the most "vicious criminals into vegetables"."

- http://stanleykubrick.website/clockword.htm

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Sean
11/4/2015 11:34:55 am

I was so looking forward to the day Netflix finally streamed this movie. I'm glad Bobby picked it too because I prefer commenting than initial reviews.

A Clockwork Orange is a new shining example for me of direction elevating story. Bobby mentioned already but the meticulous details of the costumes, setpieces, camera lens style, and shot angle being chosen was the dominant positive in this movie. Along with of course Ludwig Van and the other music both classical and the synth mixed in. As far as the story being told is it commentary on excessive violence in culture or on excessive government interference? Probably both but the story was underwhelming. All the best bits of dialogue were Alex's voice-over stuff and most of that was difficult to understand between accent and nonsense words. It mostly felt like the most brutal satire ever.

Story was a C, Direction an A+.

I'll settle on B+

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Bryan
11/4/2015 12:19:28 pm

Being a closed captions house really helped with the British English. I love this statement, "It mostly felt like the most brutal satire ever."

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Sean
11/4/2015 01:40:59 pm

At one point when we first met the parents my audio went wonky then subtitles appeared and Netflix crashed. When I turned it back on it took a minute to realize it was Spanish and I had to figure out how to fix it and rewind.

Jon
11/5/2015 02:31:17 am

In the episode of Futurama in which Zoidberg eats a flag (brought to you by Charleston Chew), Earth President Nixon bemoans the amount of freedom Earth citizens have. One example he gives is that instead of paying taxes, they can opt to spend a day with the Pain Monster. I was reminded of this scene while thinking about Clockwork Orange, where taxes equals criminal punishment and the Ludovico technique is time with the Pain Monster. Repayment measured out in drips and drabs or in one big dose. There's a lot going on in A Clockwork Orange, but that central choice between delayed and instant gratification drives a chunk of the film in the macro and micro sense.

For much of the world of the film, instant gratification is the rule of the day. Alex and his droogs satisfy every impulse without a moment's pause, from bloodlust to regular lust. There appears to be plenty of other gangs that do the same. Kubrick plays with the viewer's sympathies by having Alex et al stop a gang rape, only to follow them to the site of a gang rape they're responsible for. Alex's interlude with the two girls is more of the same, shirking off school for a threesome. His parents forgo the hard work of parenting him for the facade of a quiet and happy home. The Ludovico technique is nothing if not a quick fix to replace the deserved prison sentences of those that should be segregated from society. The government is putting the worst possible candidates into their police force, forgoing the hard work of training for the indiscriminate application of force. That force is then used against political enemies who the state has no interest in doing the hard work of debate and compromise, when the alternative is to simply lock them away. It's a world that's sick from top to bottom, unwilling to rein in its worst impulses.

That sickness is further emphasized in the hypocrisy of anyone in authority. Alex's parents are completely spineless, first in raising such a psychopath and then by being manipulated by some boarder when their 'reformed' son needs help. The truant officer is a pederast, and it's implied that the prison guard and priest are as well. The police unnecessarily beat a confession out of Alex. The fascist government is jailing its enemies, and the subversive writer and his friends forgo a journalistic coup for vengeance. The only good things in the world exist in the past, whether the faraway in Ludwig Van or the recent with Singing in the Rain. There's no contemporary music in the film, possibly because this world doesn't deserve to produce anything worth remembering.

Beyond just painting a grotesque picture of a civilization and the closed circle of intellectual laziness that perpetuates it, I think Kubrick's message is a defense of intense mental exercise. Do the hard work of self-evaluation, instead of being mentally conditioned into right action. Don't look the other way on a problem and choose the easy route, like Alex's parents surely did the first time he killed an animal for fun (probably). Entertain the possibility that your methods may be wrong. No one's doing this in Clockwork Orange, and the film is so plainly against nearly every word and action that the characters say or do. Depiction does not equal endorsement, and here, the endorsement is consistently for the opposite.

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Jon
11/5/2015 02:32:11 am

I can make a declarative statement like that, because Kubrick is one of the great auteurs, someone for whom every frame is on purpose. Nothing is accidental, everything is calculated. From the iconic opening shot to every ostentatious camera angle after, it's all communicating something to the viewer. Bobby brought up this particular strength in his review, and I fully cosign. A Clockwork Orange is foundationally ugly, but because of Kubrick, it's always interesting. The ugliest scenes, like Singin in the Rain, still look great, are well edited with a timely cutaway, and do the thing that Clockwork Orange repeatedly does, which is to juxtapose something horrible onscreen with something beautiful on the score. As Little Carmine on the Sopranos would say, 'the sacred and the propane' adds discomfort, one of many tricks in Kubrick's tool bag.

Kubrick isn't known as an actor's director, probably because he treated them so poorly, but Alex's portrayal by Malcolm McDowell is one of the best in Kubrick's filmography. He has complete control over every facial muscle, twisting his lips and brow into unique configurations. Alex's narration often talks about him feeling one way, but that description followed by the expression on his face could not be further apart. He's a convincing leader of his droogs, a convincing model prisoner, a convincing psychological torture subject, and a convincing pitiable creature. There's nothing Kubrick can throw at McDowell that he can't execute.

A Clockwork Orange is not my favorite Kubrick film, but I think it's him at his most in control. With the exception of some shaky green screen, this is a technical masterpiece. It does fall into the cold space of a movie about people behaving badly, in which there's no one person or even societal force to root for, which keeps me at a distance compared to something like Paths of Glory or the Shining, but there's no arguing with it being an enthralling and thoughtful film. Avoid the Pain Monster and pay your taxes. B+

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Bryan
11/5/2015 07:36:18 am

I tangent.

Question for those with the knowledge. How does Kubrick's green screen compare with others at the time. And if it's worse, why? Did he have less money?

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Shane
11/5/2015 04:14:38 pm

The green screen I can mostly forgive. But that was some of the worst fight choreography of all time. I'll take Top Secret!'s underwater scene over those fights all day.

Lane
11/6/2015 10:41:43 am

One thing I kept thinking through the film - how did anyone watch and appreciate the filmmaking of this between 1972 when it was out of theaters and circa mid 2000's when an audience could finally see it digitally remastered in the original aspect ratio without having to go to an arthouse cinema? I imagine TV must have driven a director like Kubrick insane.

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Shane
11/5/2015 11:26:49 am

Kubrick is a director where I would say, "Yeah. Of course he's great. One of the best." But then when I looked at my Kubrick grades, I've given him straight B's. Every single movie. And A Clockwork Orange is the same: B.

Now, this doesn't mean Kubrick isn't a great director, but perhaps I appreciate his ability to create consistent quality with a high floor rather than something that really wows and moves me. He's like the Craig Biggio of directing. Just gets it done every year.

A Clockwork Orange is certainly provocative and memorable, though part of its premise is one of my pet peeves: the deterioration of youth. I am on record as firmly believing that is a myth, and this entire movie is predicated on that myth that today's youth are increasingly morally bankrupt. This may be unfair, but it personally distracts me and absolutely changed my grade down.

While I reject that theme, I don't reject the sillyness of society's response to the threats of youth. It's a seemingly rational solution that seems to entirely dehumanize the offender. Is it free will? Considering the program is voluntary, I'd argue yes, even if our humble narrator did not understand the full consequences (no one ever can possibly understand full consequences of any decisions). But I thought the controversy around the procedure was deftly done for the most part, though it ended too abruptly.

The violence in the movie was jarring and I can't decide how much I appreciate it or dislike it. It seems very over the top, but maybe that was the point. Maybe you really needed to hate him. If Kubrick could get you to hate him, then feel bad for him, that'd be a solid accomplishment in story-telling. However, for me, I never felt bad for him. Alex is a sociopath and barely recognizable as human. (A slave to his base impulses, I'm not sure he ever had free will to begin with.)

While the movie is provocative, there are some spots that remind me its a movie. Bad special effects and some terribly poor performances by the bit players especially. Like Full Metal Jacket, I just don't feel like we have a finished product here. The message is loud and clear, and I feel like it takes away from the movie itself. Which is fine if the message is more important, but this isn't a mediocre social themes club.

It's good, but not great. I don't understand how anyone could find an overall negative value in this unless they're particularly sensitive to violence.

B.

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Lane
11/6/2015 10:27:08 am

I was pumped that this was chosen because it’s one of those classic films that, for whatever reason, I never got around to seeing. And wow…good thing I didn’t suggest this one for the family group watch movie after church on Christmas Eve. Awkward.

Which is actually Kubrick’s point here. The question this film wants to explore is: what happens when traditional institutions no longer are able to guard a society’s morality. And to whom, then, do we hand that morality over to? I don’t watch films of people being raped and murdered on Christmas Eve with my family because, for better or worse, my family is still pretty traditional and conservative. It’s a guardian institution for their concept of good taste. But Alex doesn’t benefit from any such institution.

Families, Kubrick suggests, have become impotent and laissez faire. The state (represented by Deltoid, the probation officer) is just a bunch of paper pushing bureaucrats. The law still holds coercive power, but its job is really just to serve as a holding pen for the immoral. Religion is still saying the same old things (heaven and hell) but notice that religion can only speak when propped up by the state in a jail (a very European concept).

Alex and his friends would seem to have been abandoned by the fabric of our society, except, here to save the day is….science!!!

I would argue the true villain of the story isn’t sex, violence, censorship, or any character – the true villain is science, because Kubrick wants us to think about what would happen if science becomes the guardian institution of morality. This has been a grand idea of a few totalitarian wannabe’s in the 20th century (note the Nazi imagery during the treatments). If science becomes the guardian of morality, then morality becomes a pragmatic political exercise. For all his buffoonery in the film, the prison chaplain is absolutely right – once Alex went through the treatment, he lost his ability to make a free moral choice. He has only two options at that point - return to his previous immoral state (evil) or make moral choices by coercion (lesser evil).

The only cure to beat this evil and lesser evil? The hero: art. Art is an interesting character in the film because, on the one hand it has been defiled into pseudo sex pop culture (the cat lady’s house) while on the other hand, it still holds the power to transcend all human constructs of morality and institution (see Ludwig van). In the end, we see that art wins, but not in the way we might think. Art, it turns out, is ambivalent. Art doesn’t cause us to make moral or immoral choices, it is simply a reflection of who we are as people and as a society (a topic still hotly debated every time there's a school shooting). Pretty genius stuff for a guy making a film that he knew was bound to be boycotted and burned in a pile with some naughty books and magazines by a bunch of rednecks in the front lawn of the Freewill Missionary Baptist Church in Canton, North Carolina.


Downsides? The problem with a film that tackles big ideas is that other parts of the art sometimes suffer. I was underwhelmed with Malcolm McDowell in the lead role. The part basically had two sides: look creepy and yell. He did those well, so maybe it was a failure of the script more than the acting. The narrator seemed to have so much depth and complexity. It just didn’t come through on the screen.

I thought the movie was about fifteen minutes too long also. A few of the scenes that were supposed to be more humorous fell flat for me. I understood (usually) what Kubrick was trying to do or say, it just didn’t work for me. The scene where the prison guard is signing Alex over to the rehab center is an example. The camera lingered on them signing forms for like 2 minutes. I get it – it’s absurd that a person’s life is really nothing more than a bunch of signatures on a form, but could he have said that in about a minute less?

However, these downsides are relatively minor in the face of the overwhelming genius of this film. It’s one I’ll be thinking about for days.

Grade: A

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Bryan
11/6/2015 11:44:55 am

My late nomination for review of the year. Were you a literature major? This is deep.

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Shane
11/6/2015 01:50:52 pm

Free will argument! I'm glad someone else brought this up.

I'm disagreeing with you and the priest here: Choosing to eliminate your choices is an exercise in free will. To no longer be bound by the shackles of pure impulse is the obvious choice to make, even if Alex didn't quite understand the full ramifications of his choice. But understanding all consequences is not required to make a choice.

I think Alex has as much range of choices before the treatment as he did after. Before he was responding to the most base of choices and entirely impulsive. Now he is required to think about his choices and make the long-term and less impulsive choices.

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Bobby
11/6/2015 01:54:20 pm

It's not so much choices that are different, but the consequences, no?

Sean
11/6/2015 01:59:59 pm

Alex didn't choose to eliminate his choices he chose to get out of jail.

Shane
11/6/2015 02:49:01 pm

Your body can overrule your choices. You tell your body to not get sick when you eat a ten day old taco that Dingo regurgitated, but your body overrules that and you'll get sick because the body is protecting itself. Alex is denied from making certain choices because his body rejects them. Those choices are eliminated and he chose that path. But he has new choices.

Before, he wasn't really choosing. He was just listening to his "reptilian brain." That's pure impulse and not an exercise in free will.

Bobby
11/6/2015 02:53:56 pm

You can still make the choice, though. It's not taken away from you. Your body might disagree with the choice, and lead you to bad consequences, but the mental choice seems to still there. Just because something stops you from doing what you choose, doesn't mean you didn't make the choice to do it.

Shane
11/6/2015 04:11:26 pm

OK. So free will isn't compromised at all?

Bobby
11/6/2015 04:38:36 pm

Compromised, maybe. As knowing the consequences will likely influence the choices... but the choices are still there. That's not the same as taking free will, or the choices in general, away, is it?

Choosing to do or be something does not guarantee it actually happens.

Shane
11/6/2015 01:51:37 pm

Alternately, how about this:

With an omnipotent God, free will cannot exist. GO!

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Bryan
11/6/2015 01:56:30 pm

Dog! Go!

Bobby
11/6/2015 01:57:58 pm

Perhaps... but God having such power doesn't necessarily mean using it. Even if she does, is it taking away free will, or simply changing what the possible consequences are, as she sees fit.

Sean
11/6/2015 01:58:27 pm

Omnipotent doesn't not mean not indifferent, free will stands.

Sean
11/6/2015 02:06:52 pm

Bobby the ever feminist uses she but forgets to capitalize the S.

Bobby
11/6/2015 02:17:24 pm

At first I didn't capitalize god either... but wanted to follow Shane's use of it within the thread.

Capital She is reserved for Alanis. Boop.

Shane
11/6/2015 02:45:31 pm

If God is omnipotent and She created everything, then everything is pre-determined. When She created everything, She knew the results of everything. How could She not? She's omnipotent.

Bobby
11/6/2015 04:31:54 pm

Fair point. I think that only highlights a problem with accepting an omnipotent god.

Tom's transcriptionist
11/7/2015 12:38:16 am

I have seen clockwork. Quote it every time a make my eggs wegs in the morning.
Or listen to Ludwig van.
Apparently that translates to wegs! According to bookface
Autocorrect fucked the quote up
Been a long time since I watched its entirety but based purely on recollection would go with solid b. I seem to recall it smacking of sophomoric treatment of the nature of wrongdoing. Black and white vs shades of grey. But I am sure much of the visual and cinematic nuance has left my mind in the interim.
No time for the old in and out love I've just come to check the meter.

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