'A Clockwork Orange' is a deranged piece of required viewing that has entered the annals of popular culture.

Rating: 10/10 (12 June 2013)

I distinctly remember the first time I watched 'A Clockwork Orange'. I was only 11-years-old and it was a rainy, overcast afternoon – perfect conditions for watching a film. I was aware of the film's notoriety; I remembered my dad's excitement when he managed to find a copy of it in France in the late 1990s, telling me that it had been banned by the director in our country.
Stanley Kubrick died in 1999, and sometime between then and 2004 a newly released English copy had been bought, presumably by my dad. With a certain degree of espionage, I managed to find the VHS and slip it into my all-in-one television and VCR player.
As soon as the stark red and blue colouring of the opening scene flooded the screen, I was captivated. The strange aesthetic and Wendy Carlos' haunting Moog synthesiser soundtrack was unlike anything I had ever seen, I was utterly compelled by it and I knew I was watching something really special.
The film follows Alex and his three 'Droogs', a gang of amoral young men who spend their evenings beating, stealing and raping. Since my initial viewing all those years ago, I have realised what gripped me as an 11- year-old boy, the terrific energy of the film's first hour or so. Yes, you're watching the Droogs 'tolchock' and rape, however Alex's completely unhinged life unravels on the screen with such vitality; it's a thrillingly deranged trip that swiftly grabs and immerses its viewer like few films manage.
There is no other film that is quite like 'A Clockwork Orange'. It is riddled with idiosyncrasies, with its gaudy costumes, futuristic interior design and particularly 'Nadsat', the Droogs' esoteric language, some of which has since entered common parlance. It is also a film that truly feels British, particularly in its humour, which comes chiefly through the comments and sometimes rather slapstick actions of the eccentric central character. Another of its merits lies in Wendy Carlos' wonderful score. It blends classical pieces such as Rossini's The Thieving Magpie and Beethoven's Ninth Symphony with Carlos' Moog synthesiser renditions of Beethoven and Baroque music including Henry Purcell's March.
There's no doubt that the film aestheticises violence and indeed glorifies the central character. The character of Alex DeLarge is one of cinema's greatest. Malcolm McDowell gives Alex an undeniable charisma that charms you, making him an antihero that you find yourself very much rooting for. During all of his nastiness he is never hateful, he has that infamous sideways grin that's menacing and comical in equal measure.
All of this, of course, poses something of a moral dilemma. As the film progresses, our charismatic antihero who has both charmed us and appalled us willingly becomes the subject of a government experiment. Alex is a free man after undergoing the Ludovico Technique, which consists of forcing the subject to watch scenes of violence and rape whilst reconfiguring their brain. The treatment reduces Alex into a sickly coughing fit whenever he's in situation that's violent or sexual.
I don't think Kubrick's film is one of the great pieces of sociopolitical commentary. The main problem is that Alex is not just unrepentant, he's psychopathic. This complicates a discussion about the penal system because Alex is probably untreatable, unlike the doomed subject of 'A Short Film About Killing', a lost and disturbed young man who is executed by the state before he can rehabilitate. After Alex's meeting with the Home Secretary in the film's closing moments, Alex's psychopathy could be interpreted as a comment on how those with powerful executive jobs, such as those in Westminster, are more likely to show the psychopathic, machiavellian traits possessed by Alex.
To its credit, the film doesn't give any definite answers. Instead, it explores the complexities and difficulties of crime and punishment, presenting us with this dystopian vision of sheer state control and a wacky conclusion that leaves more questions than answers.
'A Clockwork Orange' is a spectacular synthesis of absurd aesthetic, striking cinematography, innovative music and an exceptional lead actor supported by a strong, interesting cast. It is a piece of required viewing that's entered the annals of popular culture.
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