Sensational, a beautiful montage of music, feelings, and images

Rating: 10/10 (7 June 2003)

Stanley Kubrick's probably two most infamous films are A Clockwork Orange and Eyes Wide Shut. At the 1971 Academy Awards, this film was nominated for Best Picture, Director, Adapted Screenplay, and Editing. It is so very hard to put the brilliance of A Clockwork Orange into words. The film works on so many levels, from the brilliant score to the top of the line acting and the satirical photography. Many people have called it shocking and disturbing, but Steven Speilberg's Saving Private Ryan is 10 X as worse. As the troubled but ultimately intelligent Alex, Malcolm M. shines in his role by ultimately conveying a sort of child- like quality and at the same time a distant violent nature. He is perfectly adapted from the Alex in the novel. All the other actors do perfectly fine jobs, especially the Prison Chaplin who puts the ultimate message of the film into a few basic sentences. Kubrick's refined script is excellent, and is almost the exact same as the novel. Some minor details that have changed is that he focuses a bit too much on the ultra- violence and rape, and there is a lot less of the funny language that Alex and his pals use. Kubrick's direction treats this as a satire, and the viewer has all these images sent to his head. There are so many sequences when he suddenly does slow motion or when he puts it as if it's fast forward. Overall, A Clockwork Orange is everything you've heard and more. It's not exactly the most violent or disturbing film ever created, though there is quite a bit of nudity. It's a towering achievement from everyone involved, cast and crew alike and deserves to be on the top 10 films of all time. Amazing film, definitely my new favorite. 10/10