Sly natures and free will...

Rating: 10/10 (15 November 2019)

This film is brilliant. Why? Well, it makes me think of good and evil and how they have the ability to arise in a dynamic environment. What makes a man a man?
Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange seems to examine humans as subjects bound to their inner desires. I see it as a satire of a totalitarian society more or less. A Clockwork Orange takes place in a futuristic dystopian society. A dynamic environment is present displaying chaos through the littering of trash and the formation of such gangs as Alex's. As the movie progressed I began to see a dualism. One see's a society at the start of the movie in which man is exercising his outer state, the succulent lively surface (An orange). Alex has full opportunity to exercise his free will in a dynamic environment. Alex then gets arrested. While in prison, Alex is offered a treatment known in the movie as Aversion Therapy. The treatments aim is to reform the criminally inclined individual into being a good person. In return he would get his freedom. He ends up receiving this treatment. However, he ends up being like a clockwork toy, wound to their liking. In short, the duality of the control over man and free will (Clockwork/Orange)
To me, Alex represents the inherent evil nature that resides in all humanity. Alex is the personification of that evil in us. Each of us has the right within a civil society to choose how we act. I see evil essential, just as good is essential. There is a balance that is to be achieved for full understanding and enlightenment to take place. I feel that the good in people arise naturally, just as evil arises naturally. Alex becomes a puppet or mechanical toy tweaked to the governments liking. As a result, I feel like Alex looses his humanity; he ceases to be a man. It instead confines him and tortures him in this living hell.
Kubrick did a magnificent job with the camera work and set designs. I particularly love the opening sequence when Alex is with his "droogs" sipping on "milk plus". How the camera pans out in combination with the music is brilliant. It immediately sets the tone for Alex's sinister sadistic character. As Alex goes about with his "droogs" reeking havoc, I love the succession of set locations and designs. It makes me feel as if I'm truly looking into a cryptic otherworldly society.
If you're into cerebral films, this movie is for you. It makes one think about what it means to be human and how evil and good go hand in hand. Good isn't always good, bad isn't always bad. The sly natures induced by free will perhaps offer some zest in a mundane ridden life.