Good for laughs and lashings of the ol' ultraviolence

Rating: 10/10 (17 December 2000)

Stanley Kubrick's 1971 classic is known for it's surrealism and shocking story line. Many believe the film is nothing more than a test of a person's morality. Many believe that the film promotes violence in a negative way on young modern day culture. I believe the film promotes the ability to simply think of the darkness that lies beneath the human soul.
A Clockwork Orange is the story of a teenage criminal named Alex who learns the hard way that you reap of what you sow. The film sets you up so that when Alex commits his crimes you feel rather humored or jolly. I, myself would blame this on the music. The music provides a sense of repulsiveness and therefore allowing the members of the audience to know right from wrong in theory. The music I think is used to allow the audience member to feel and live in Alex's obvious state of euphoria when committing these crimes. But, when Alex is captured and forced into "non-violence", he is let out of prison after two years of what he calls a human zoo onto the streets he once destroyed. We cannot feel nothing but empathy for our character as every one in his life rejects and attacks him. The reason we feel this empathy is because the emotion is finally released onto the story, and I felt that the character had reclaimed his humanity by being hurt the same way he once hurt others.
Another reason I believe that we can feel empathy is because of the balance of anger and happiness. When Alex is raping or bashing another person, he feels happy, unlike the very people who seek revenge upon our lead character. They are not happy when they are avenging their lost dignity. Instead, they are mad. Anger has consumed them and caused them to lash out at a defenseless man who has lost it all. Of all of the violent scenes in the film, of all terrifying ideas that come into play, only one scene actually takes the sticks out when I think of A Clockwork Orange. The scene is when Alex is let out of prison and goes home to greet his parents for the first time in two years. Here, he consciously learns that what he had done was wrong and must pay for his sins. As the background violin score begins to play, I could not help but nearly cry as he began to. This scene is arguably the most powerful scene and always I feel touched by the humanity that courses through it. I love A Clockwork Orange just because of this scene and how it can make all the bad in the film forgettable for just one moment of clarity.
The movie does examine the darkness that flows throughout the human mind. Life has two paths; Love or hate. Alex chose hate and got exactly in return what he had thrown onto others. Love is beneficial towards the evil aspect in a way of exchange as Alex slowly learns. How close are we to becoming a planet of evil, as Alex did? How close are you?