A black comedy so black some will not see the comedy....

Rating: 9/10 (11 July 2009)

I find it bizarre how so many great films from spat upon genres like horror and costumed heroes receive such vitriol from critics who enjoy BAD films in those categories but despise good ones, alway's their pathetic answer is the same: 'OMG The 'BATMAN & ROBIN' IZ BETTER DEN The 'DARK KNIGHT' BEKUZ IT DUZNT TAEK ITSELF SERIOUSLY LOL!' I fail to understand that argument. It's fine for a director to have a sense of humor and not be obnoxious about his craft, but there's a difference between having fun and not giving any effort by goofing off. Would you give some lazy student who sleeps through class who always comes in high and writes 'F- you' on a test as an answer an A+ because he doesn't take school seriously? If you give bad films like 'Batman & Robin' good ratings over 'The Dark Knight' because they 'Aren't serious' you are essentially doing the same thing. This filthy minded Liberal mentality has infected all aspects of film, with many excellent directors taking flack for the serious thematic content in their films.
Chief among these persecuted directors is the once-vaunted Stanley Kubrick, whose name is now used by these indie film fans and liberal canker sores as slang for 'pretentious' or 'overrated' or 'Taking himself too seriously'(one truly bizarre troll who sees the untalented Jason Friedberg as superior to Kubrick who I insulted sent me a string of hate mail telling me to orally pleasure him for weeks, that sums up the level of maturity of these people). What these disgusting people forget, however, is Kubrick's amazing range. He has directed romantic films, horror films, science fiction films, period melodramas, war films, but also comedies. Not only is he responsible for the famous comedy/satire 'Dr. Strangelove'(Which I will review along with another, more blatant comedy I feel is a spiritual descendant of 'Strangelove'), he has also infused even his grimmest films with humor('Full metal Jacket' has lots of black comedy in the suffering of 'Gomer Pyle' and in the Drill Seargent's over-the-top insults, and the famous 'Here's Johnny' sequence in 'The Shining'), but 'A Clockwork Orange' is perhaps his most biting speculative satire, and like I said, it's so grim many will fail to see the comedy.
The plot is simple, an obnoxious but intellectual young gang leader named Alex(Malcom McDowell in what is easily his best performance)commits the vilest of deeds, is betrayed by his cronies who are sick of his tyranny, and volunteers for a reformative treatment which makes things worse than before. And it encompasses all spectrum's of comedy, from slapstick, sexual innuendo, irony and social satire. The wonky imagery, along with it's bizarre but blatant sexual overtones, ridiculous outfits and classical music score smacks not of a Kubrick film, but a Ken Russel film on drugs. Alex isn't really that different than cartoon character's like Woody Woodpecker, Bugs Bunny, and in some cases Mickey Mouse, or silent comedians like Chaplin's Tramp. He antagonizes people in a stylized manner, makes a bunch of dumb cracks then suffers last minute. There's a big difference, though. Here, we SEE and FEEL him pay for his crimes, and are forced to consider what we as an audience have accepted and voyeuristicly participated in, and makes us feel guilty. If that was Kubrick's only purpose, the film would still be a masterpiece, but it's just his secondary purpose.
He explores just what happens when Alex is subjected to a 'cure' that will rob him of his violent impulses. It does rob him of his negative impulses, but it fails to make him 'good' so much as unresponsive, even when he needs those impulses. It also stops him from engaging in the only loves in his life that AREN'T destructive; his love of 'Ludwig Van', his neglected and manipulated, but still beloved parents and his pet snake(Symbolically representing his now circumcised manhood). For all of his crimes, his suffering is genuinely heartbreaking, AND WE STILL FEEL GUILTY ABOUT IT, since Alex is a character that we should have no reason to feel sorry for, but do anyway. One minute we are forced to be disgusted with liking him, then disgusted that we ever hated him. Brilliant, manipulative, but brilliant.
Beyond that, the film poses the disturbing question about 'reform' programs: If it is unjust to rob someone as disgusting and deserving of punishment as Alex of his free will, then how much worse is it to subject lesser criminals or the mentally ill to such treatment? In real life, those lesser criminals or the mentally ill would be subjected to such treatment, and someone like Alex wouldn't get the chance, thus meaning that the truly innocent suffer even MORE undeservedly than the guilty. And then there's the implication that it all comes undone and that Alex returns to his old ways. So that means that in real life, lesser criminals would suffer FOR NOTHING.
What a brilliant question to pose: If the guilty don't deserve it, who does? It's all a balancing act, social commentary, satire, horror, humor, but Kubrick makes it all work, and doesn't 'Take himself too seriously' for a second of it, unless you consider a rape scored to 'Singin' in the Rain' and women eager for an orgy sucking on phallic-shaped lollipops to be reverent and conservative and stuffy.
Try and make a film as rich as that, 'Care-free filmmakers'. I dare you.~