A Satire of a Sick Nature

Rating: 10/10 (13 September 2000)

Stanley Kubrick took Anthony Burgess' classic novel of weird things to come in the not-too-distant future and created a timeless masterpiece. A Clockwork Orange is brilliant from the dark, disturbing intro right through to the funny, energetic ending. We meet a young man, Alexander DeLarge, who tells us of his fondness for a bit of the "old ultra-violence". Although strange in his fashion, decor and russian-american lingo, Alex can be clearly identified with some of todays youths who terrorise the streets at night. Through the coarse of the film, we see Alex turned from the devil of the night to the sobbing, frail man being carried in the arms of his former victems bodyguard. After proving his power to the world when he stunned us with the deep, brilliant 2001:a space oddyssey, A Clockwork Orange was the first film that really set Kubrick aside from other directors. He used A Clockwork Orange to convey some of the deep studies of human nature that he hides in almost all of his films (i.e. exploration of madness and the "duality of man" and schitsophrenia) as we see Alex transform himself from rapist and killer to son and schoolchild living with his parents by day, terrorising the innocent at night. It is a really disturbing look at human nature and society in general. The film seems to say that there is no cure for criminality and also stabs a punch at the justice system and the government all in one. But the one thing that strikes you about A Clockwork Orange is the fact that this disturbing, dark study is funny. In fact it's the funniest film Kubrick made since Dr. Strangelove. This is mainly helped by Malcom McDowell's brilliant performance. He brings a light-hearted deviousness and charm to the monsters face. Ultimately A Clockwork Orange is a brilliant, disturbing, dark, satirical look at society and the way things are going, slowly. Because of the abstractness and fable-like sets, this masterpiece is timeless. Ultimately entertaining and rewarding, this is one not to miss.