A Dostoevskian tragedy

Rating: 10/10 (19 November 2019)

Where does one begin when reviewing this movie? Many people just shrug and say "this film is pointless!" But that is a narrow minded take on anything Kubrick has done. This film is far from pointless, and is one of the most mature films the Director has done.
Others, though, hate the film because it makes you sympathize with a terrible person like Alex DeLarge. I feel like this is probably what Dostoevsky was criticized for with his novel "Crime and Punishment". Both A Clockwork Orange and Crime and Punishment are about sick people that are jerks to their "friends", however, in your heart of hearts, you want to see their redemption. In many ways, A Clockwork Orange is a response to Crime and Punishment. One of the key parallels in both works is when the characters in both stories are in prison, reading their Bibles. In Crime and Punishment, the main character sees himself as Lazarus, being raised from the dead. At that moment, He makes the choice to be good. However, in A Clockwork Orange, when Alex is reading the Bible in prison, he pictures himself as the Roman guard whipping Jesus, and then pictures himself as some great King being fed grapes. At that point, Alex doesn't make the choice to be good, but wants to pretend to be good so that he can get out of prison. This movie deals exactly with what Crime and punishment was dealing with: only the pure in heart can properly function within a society. The film confronts our culture's desire to only change people's visual acts, when in reality, only the heart matters, and only the individual can change their hearts. So are we supposed to sympathize with Alex? Yes. Because we want to see his heart change, like the Dostoevsky character. But we can't change his heart. Only he can.