A clockwork ourang

Rating: 9/10 (14 May 2007)

Based on the 1962 book by Anthony Burgess, A Clockwork Orange cannot be described as anything but a masterpiece of the science fiction and drama genres.
Set in a futuristic London which resembles the old USSR, the film directed by genius (and detail-obsessive) Stanley Kubrick -director of 2001: A Space Odyssey and The Shining, among others- shows a gang of teenagers whose only aim in life is ultra-violence. Alex DeLarge, the main character, portrayed brilliantly by Malcolm McDowell, is the leader of this gang: a charming fifteen year old boy with a great passion for music, especially Beethoven.
Throughout the film, Alex and his droogs (friends in Nadsat- their teen slang, influenced by Russian) are shown raping, hurting and stealing without any sense of guilt or morality. What strikes most to the viewers about the film is that it gives a violent atmosphere while showing almost no blood. Moreover, nobody can avoid feeling sympathetic towards Alex, no matter how strong his lack of ethical issues is.
After quarreling with part of the gang, Alex is set a trap which leads him to jail, accused of murder. There, he takes part of a special reconditioning treatment, in order to shorten his sentence. Submitted to brainwashing, the boy goes out to the streets again, transformed into a different person but is he in reality?
There is no scene in the film which cannot be referred to as controversial: cruel fights shown in slow camera, with classical music backgrounds (who can forget the Singin' in the Rain scene!); a rape filmed in an aesthetically beautiful way; fast camera sex; concentration camps and Beethoven appearing on screen at the same time. When the film was released in 1971, it was rated either X or R, for strong explicit sexual content and rape, perverse nudity, brutal violence, and some language. Then again, most films nowadays show at least as much.
However, there are few films that deal with the topic of freedom of choice as A Clockwork Orange does. Is it right for a man to be good when he is not choosing to be so? Also starring Patrick Magee and Michael Bates, the film lasts 136 minutes and is a must-see of the cinema. After 36 years the film not only still holds us in grasp, but also speaks volumes about our current culture.
If I should critic anything about the film, however, it would be the fact that it does not show the last chapter of the book. Nevertheless, Kubrick had adapted it from the American version, which already lacks that final chapter, in which Alex grows and experiences a change, no longer finding pleasure in ultra-violence. Although in the introduction of the 1996 edition of the novel it is said that Kubrick found the end of the original edition too blandly optimistic and unrealistic, it shows a very different interpretation of the "unruly youth", which deserves to be known.
Therefore, not only the film is a must-see, but viewers should feel compelled to read the end of the book after it.