A real horrorshow, my droogs

Rating: 10/10 (4 May 2012)

IMDb Top 250: 56
With all the criticism of the rating system today, one can look back to see a reason why they are enforced in the first place: the legendary Clockwork Orange. Like a drug, this film has good uses, or it can be completely abused and misinterpreted. I think the film gets a bad rep for its content, although it absolutely deserves its rating, illustrated by the infamous 'Singin in the Rain' scene...
A Clockwork Orange is extraordinarily evil and shallow, but also incredibly sophisticated and thought-provoking. It has unprecedented sex, violence and intensity, still cringeworthy to today. But it is also a film with unique linguistics, echoing the great William Shakespeare, and a haut sense of music, with constant classical music, specifically Beethoven. The juxtaposition is jarring.
With the depth of 5 films, A Clockwork Orange speaks about so much more than violence and sex. Youth/elderly relations, society, government, youth, good and evil, morals and choices, and violence and sex are portrayed in one of the densest films I've ever seen. Specifically the government aspect hit me: throughout the film a viewer wonder whether the film argues for the left or right side, but I concluded that it fights for neither: it argues against both sides, with no right answer. Complete destruction, like the characters. Genius!
More than a thematic film, Clockwork is visually quirky as well. Taking place in the near future, although by now it actually the near past, the world hasn't changed too much, but the changes are zany. Women have fully coloured wigs, drug bars exist, and the interior decorators were probably tripping on said milk. Like the Fallout game series, there's a certain culture freeze: cars and music haven't really advanced. The world is strange looking, and even more strange acting, but that's another stroke of genius. Look outside, people are practically orange! What we value is just as strange as what Clockwork's does. Another poke at society.
Then there's the characters... let's start with Alex. Alex is a bad guy, no doubt about it. You certainly won't want to admit that, seeing how charismatic and likable he is. His iconic clothes, slang and attitude harbor feelings in us that deep down... we want to be him. As my friend described him, "God I hate him so much but I feel bad for him, y'know?"
Also notable are Alex's parents. Like in Rebel Without a Cause, there is disconnection, a generation gap between them and Alex. His parents are total pushovers, ignorant and meek. They try to avoid problems: through them, it becomes apparent how Alex became how his is, without anyone to keep him in check.
Several Kubrick staples return, including Alex's fantastic narration and the mythical, otherworldly music. The brilliant synth score sets the tone immediately, while the classical music Alex loves so, so much is the opposite of the horrors presented on screen.
Simply, A Clockwork Orange has some of the best structure and flow in film. There are three distinct acts, with individual scenes that each have a unique identity, serving several purposes, connecting, foreshadowing, symbolizing. These are classic scenes, all recognizable, no filler. And the pacing, which could have been slowed to help stomach the brutality, was not. It's very quick.
A cynical masterpiece with an eye to point out everything wrong with everything, I did something that I've never done before with a film: I watched it again the day after to really take it all in. A brilliant film, decades ahead of the times, an iconic classic. Kubrick immediately topped his previous work, 2001. 9.6/10