Film Review : A CLOCKWORK ORANGE * * * *

A Clockwork Orange (1971)

CAST Malcom McDowell, Patrick Magee, Michael Bates, Warren Clarke

DIRECTOR Stanley Kubrick

Based on the Anthony Burgess novel of the same title, Stanley Kubrick's "A Clockwork Orange", is a seering futuristic satire of crime and vandalism. The story is brutally savage and wonderfully told.

Malcom McDowell is Alex Delarge, the leader of a group of hooligans who reek havoc on women, the elderly, rival gangs, and people in their homes. Alex rules with an iron fist. His group of "drrogs" are so scared of him they dont hold up any resistance in his decision making. In the beginning we see them beat an elderly man just because he's old. The violence in the movie is very disturbing. Kubrick plays classical pieces of music as the violence goes on, which gives the movie a darker texture.

Two of his followers, Georgie and Dim, muster enough nerve to challenge Alex's position. Alex lays along, only to turn on them in one of the best visual scenes of the film. At a home of a woman who owns many cats, Georgie and Dim turn on Alex. The cops pick him up and he is sent to prison after the woman he attacked dies. It is there where he hears of a new experiment that cures the criminal, supposedly changing them in to a decent civilian.

Alex undergoes the procedure and seems to have been cured, throwing up at the sight of violence. The real ironyies of the film are exposed when he gets out of prison. A converted man, who is thrown out of his house, beaten to near death by his old comrades, who are now police officers. He is hospitalized and offered a deal by the government.

Kubrick's direction is meticulous and visually stunning. The role of Alex is well executed by McDowell, and the story is gripping and detailed. Kubrick is the master of perfection. In this film we see many examples. His approach is artsy, but not contrieved. It is a film that packs a socially conscience theme with the drop back of a futuristic civilization. The music used is utilized with perfection. A great example is the "Singin' In The Rain" scene, which Alex is singing that song while kicking a man in the stomach and cutting the clothes off of a woman he is going to rape. The mixture of the visual brutality and the audio beauty, is an irony mastered so well in this masterpiece. A hauntingly visual and descriptive tale of violence and social decline.