A Tour de Force of cinema, a powerful prediction which came true.

Rating: 10/10 (21 November 2003)

So much has been written about this film, not least on the IMDb, however,a few facts need to be established for the benefit of those who were not around at the time of the original release in 1971. At that time the British newspapers were full of articles condemning the film as a disgusting,depraved,celebration of violence and pornography.The government of the day were being urged to ban the film before civilization as we know it was destroyed.This is not an exaggeration.Much the same thing happened a couple of years later when The Exorcist was released.Of course, none of the so-called guardians of the nations morals had actually seen the film, but they knew enough about it to try to stop the rest of the country having the opportunity to make their own minds up.Which of course is one of the themes of the story.So all this tied in quite well with Kubrick's intentions.He was never in the business of offering answers in any of his works and this is no different.You make your own mind up.The world was a very different place in 1971 and cinema audiences,on the whole, were not so sophisticated as they are now.Or maybe not so blase about sex and violence not having been fed the constant torrent of such material that the modern world takes for granted.But without A Clockwork Orange its very probable that the trail may not have been blazed quite so soon.Whether you think that's a good thing or not is up to you.But at least you have the choice.To correct another common misunderstanding,the movie was never banned anywhere (in the civilised world that is).Kubrick withdrew it from British cinemas within a year because of the way it was misunderstood and misrepresented by the British press.You could, however take a short trip to Paris where it was shown almost constantly.It was only when Kubrick died that his wife decided to allow the film to be re-released in Britain in cinemas and on video that modern audiences got the chance to see for themselves what all the fuss was about.And the general concensus of opinion seemed to be that in comparison to films such as Goodfellas,Taxi Driver,etc, A Clockwork Orange wasn't much to get upset about.The passage of time had dulled peoples senses. But,a lot of what is depicted in the film has since become commonplace.The acceptance of violence,the casual attitude to to casual sex,the alienation and fear of people living in so-called modern housing developments(some of the film was shot in the Thamesmead housing estate in south London which has since become a run down no go area populated by gangs of violent thugs).As to the main thrust of the piece,whether it is right to take away someone's freedom to choose,the jury is still out.You make your decision. This is a great work of cinematic genius.It is unrivalled by any other film, it is unique.If you come to watch it with preconceived ideas you may be disappointed so keep an open mind.When Kubrick was looking for an actor to play Alex he only had one man in mind,Malcolm McDowell.He had seen him in a movie called If...in which he played a rebellious public schoolboy.To this day McDowell has never come close playing another part like Alex,not because he isn't a good actor,but because,quite simply there is not another part like Alexander De Large.This is a 10/10 movie.See it and watch a masterpiece.