A disturbing yet fascinatingly provocative film

Rating: 9/10 (15 April 2014)

In quest to expand my film repertoire I finally mustered up the courage to sit through the whole 136 minutes of Stanley Kubrick's infamous 'A clockwork orange' and I was not disappointed albeit a little disturbed. On face value this is a film full of horrific violence but it is so much more than that. Kubrick's direction eerily portrays the stark realism of a nightmarish, dystopian future by using dim, natural lighting and hand-held camera shots to make the film feel even more real for the viewer and to mirror the dream like world that Alex lives in. Not mention that most of the violence and rape scenes are set against a classical music score which just adds to surreal uneasiness that 'ultraviolence' is the norm emphasised by the theatrical way in which these scenes are filmed which has led to criticism that the film condones violence. Hence, making the film so controversial and the reason why Kubrick himself banned the film from circulation in the United Kingdom until his death, and indeed the film can be hard to stomach but this is an absolute necessity to fully understand the dystopia and the main character, Alex. I say main character because I see Alex as neither the protagonist nor antagonist which makes this one of those rare films where you can never sympathise with the main character in anyway. However, this is also the reason that this film works as it portrays that deep, hidden dark place in all of us and shows us what would happen if it were take over us and this is perhaps the reason why Alex is seen by many as one of the greatest villains in film. On the surface, he is just like any of us but with a dark love of violence and abuse and this is further reflected in the way the future is portrayed in the film. Many cite the film as a dark satire which I believe to be true due to the fact the dystopian future heavily reflects times of the 1960s in the midst of youth rebellion and drugs, sex and rock n roll lifestyle which has taken over in that the youth rebel against elders which is true in the film and culture nowadays. It is then important to touch on the morality of choice, in the film the priest questions Alex's right as a human being to choose between the right and wrong path when the government brainwash Alex through aversion therapy to be violently ill when thinking of anything bad. The government are not interested in the individual and whether they actually understand why violence and crime is wrong, they are only interested in limiting the number of prisoners and limiting the number of people committing crime regardless of the individual thought. My take on the ending therefore, is that when Alex says he is cured no longer under the influence of the aversion therapy, he truly is cured it's just that he has made his very own choice to take the wrong path, so to speak, making Alex even more despicable than at the start. A clockwork orange is a film not without controversy and its critics but I believe it is a terrifying insight into humanity and a film that begs the viewer to really think and will reveal a new layer on each viewing. With a brilliant lead actor, this film is gruelling but an absolute must for Kubrick fans or any real film fans.