Outrageously remarkable

Rating: 10/10 (22 April 2006)

"A Clockwork Orange" is without any doubt the most politically incorrect movie that I could have seen in my short life. Full of sex, violence and shocking and degrading images so much that it could make the screen blowing off, it appears necessary to wonder why many people (including myself) dare to talk about this Kubrick picture as a masterpiece.
"A Clockwork Orange" tells the story of Alex (Malcolm McDowell), a young delinquent who patrols the streets of a futuristic and dystopic London accompanied by his "Droogies" and their only goal is to get "a bit of the old ultra-violence". We can quickly discover Alex's only three interests: savage violence, raping and Ludwig van Beethoven. Why does he love Beethoven so much? Judging by the images that are shown, it's simply that Beethoven's music inspires violence in Alex's soul.
However, Alex's life takes a different turn when he is betrayed by his Droogies and then arrested and jailed for fourteen years for the murder of a lady in her residence. After two years of incarceration, Alex is offered to be liberated after two weeks if he agrees to give himself up to an experimental treatment which is supposed to free him from any desire for violence and brutal sexual acts.
Even if there isn't any doubt that the main theme for this film is the origins of good and evil in the human being, it could be totally normal that some people ask questions about the utility of including so many scenes of violence and sex in order for the story to make the point about the conclusions it attends to draw.
It's probably because "A Clockwork Orange" seems more to be an exercise of style and a test of tolerance rather than a simple and ordinary allegory about a dystopia that doesn't really differ from many other portrayals that we've already seen before.
Stanley Kubrick doesn't content himself by putting degrading scenes in their most natural character. He brings each time his own personal touch and transforms the vice into art.
Kubrick's favorite weapon remains the ironic use of music, just like in "2001". Rossini's services are particularly used. The brawling scene between Alex's own gang and a rival gang is particularly brutal, not to say almost humorous, and that on the strains of Rossini's "The Thieving Magpie".
The scene where Alex rapes two young girls in his room is very particular and is probably the best one in the whole movie. In fact, the scene is shot in fast-motion on the strains of the famous piece "William Tell Overture" (also played in fast-motion).
And obviously, how could we forget the famous raping scene of Mr. Alexander's (Patrick Magee) wife? How could we forget those images where Alex, wearing a Pinocchio-like mask, ill-treats his victims while singing "Singin' in the Rain" and dancing just like Gene Kelly?
In fact, Kubrick's cinematography stays simple except at the moments where offending images appear. So Kubrick's goal is to prove that it is possible to treat violence as an art. It's nothing but morally unacceptable, so why doing it? Kubrick rather seems to ask: why not doing it?
It's rather obvious that Kubrick doesn't give a damn about the commercial side of cinema. After all, his film originally received a X from MPAA and was inevitably condemned by religious authorities. It must be admitted: Kubrick didn't draw a very flattering portrait of religion in his movie. We can see four plaster Christs wearing rather prominent crotches and Alex, in his fantasies, imagines himself taking pleasure to whip Jesus carrying his cross and we can see him taking part to bloody death fights and orgies.
The society presented in "A Clockwork Orange" really is a totally absurd society where totalitarian and repressive governments can emerge anywhere, even in traditionally democratic states like England. Several characters are so much bizarre that we cannot even consider them as living caricatures. It's the case of Mr. Deltoid (Aubrey Morris) with his totally ridiculous smile who drinks water from a glass containing a denture. There also are the prison guards which look more like soldiers than civil servants. Their chief (Michael Bates) furiously look like Adolf Hitler.
The film succeeds in giving the impression of a futuristic world without ever showing any futuristic technology. Everything is based upon peculiarity. We can see Alex and his Droogies wearing totally white suits as well as bowler hats, top hats and flat caps. As for women, they dye their hair in fluorescent green, blue and pink. The architecture and design are also odd, without counting upon the fact that it's often garish and ugly.
But Malcolm McDowell's performance is all but undesirable. His character shows so much charisma that he almost hides his sadism and his own darkness. He is violent, not because of a mental disorder, nor because of an unstable family or social order, but because he chose to act that way. He also made the choice of subjecting himself to the Ludovico treatment and he made the choice of throwing himself out of the window when he's unable to bear with his new situation. But the treatment looks like an antidote to freedom. So it's a formidable battle that Alex does against society itself. And when he's searching for forgiveness, he can't find anyone ready to offer him.
It's therefore a cold, hopeless and pessimistic look that Kubrick offers here. In his case, it's just normal. He simply combined his ideas with an exercise of style that acts at the same time as some kind of test to check out what an audience is ready to bear to watch a movie. Even thirty-five years later, "A Clockwork Orange" have lost nothing of its ability to shock and cause controversy. For me, it's a shocking film but there's nothing to blame. It's outrageous and it's remarkable. Nothing else to add, O my brothers!