An excellent presentation of art in cinema.

Rating: 10/10 (14 August 2007)

"A Clockwork Orange" is one of the strangest and most brilliant films in existence. Based on the novel of the same name by Anthony Burgess, director Stanley Kubrick brings an ultimately surreal and artistic look to the movie.Never before have I seen a movie that works and operates so well on a visual level, and I am not sure if I ever will. It is a movie that must ultimately be seen to believe.
For the course of "A Clockwork Orange", we follow the experiences encountered by young British criminal/rapist Alex DeLarge, played wonderfully yet hauntingly by Malcom McDowell. Alex and his droogs (members in a gang lead by Alex) rape, beat, lynch, and steal just to have their own sick sense of enjoyment, all while communicating to each other in a type of language known as Nadsat. Whether you view these experiences as intelligent views on society or just plain vile and disgusting images, there is no denying that it is definitely artistic, and that is the level that this movie succeeds best on.
While the movie is full of violence and sexual content, it is the way that it is portrayed that truly sets it apart. Bright, brilliant colors make up much of the backgrounds and settings, while various pieces of classical music are used as background music. While the colors and music usually clash with what is taking place in a particular scene, the overall experience that they all create is truly a wonder to view.
I place a lot of emphasis on this movies artistic direction, and while it does make the movie what it is, it is not the only thing that makes the movie great. Malcom McDowell portrays the monster Alex DeLarge so well that, even though we find everything he does to be awful, he can almost make you sympathize with him when he encounters various problems. Even though you never agree with the type of person that Alex is (or at least I hope you don't), you can truly see Alex as an actual person, and I attribute this in great deal to Malcom McDowell.
It is not surprising that this movie was so controversial when it first came out in 1971, as it shows a great deal of infamous rape, sex, and violent scenes. To only see the movie as something of those elements only, though, is to be rather short-sighted. Another popular criticism of this movie is that it seems cold and lifeless, but that is necessary to ensure we see the entire move fold out in front of us like a piece of artwork. Simply said, their is no time for real character development. All that time wasted on complaining about such issues, however, detracts from time that could be spent on one of the most visually arresting and absolutely brilliant movies in existence.