an exhilarating experience!!!!

Rating: 10/10 (14 August 2000)

After 2001: a space odyssey, one could be forgiven of thinking that Kubrick had reached his peak, but of course he topped it with this extraordinary adaptation of Anthony Burgess's accomplished, dazzingly original novel. With perhaps the finest director ever ( after Scorsese ) behind the helm, This is sheer brilliance. Diluting Burgess's unique nadsat language for a more coherent effect. this is satisfyingly accessible yet dazzingly powerful, perfectly rendered, utterly memorable and highly exhilarating. combining careful, perfect pacing, an wicked sense of humour and a brilliant sense of politics. this is filmmaking at it's unparalleled best. The story is correctly simple yet epic and breathtaking in scope. a gang member being captured by the government, subjected to tests and put out into the world, a non violent person skillfully raises issues of freedom of will and corruption highlighted further by his love of Beethoven being taken away from him as well as his love of violence showing the blatant disregard of the government just wanting to please the people without caring what side effects it might have on such people as Alex. Malcolm McDowell is perfect as Alex de Large who's basically a thug but he also employs our sympathy and pity as he is paid back in full for all the bad things he has done which in the film are shown in brilliantly stylized but undeniably disturbing fashion. these feature the beating of an writer Mr Alexander( Patrick Magee,who is superb )and the horrifying rape of his wife to Singing in the rain, the ferocious beating of an old tramp, an attack on a rival gang, group sex and most memorably perhaps, the beating to death of an gymnast with an huge phallus like object. As you might of guessed, this is also an frightening and brilliantly disturbing experience. Often misconceived as a mere video nasty, this is so much more than that, it might be as shocking as it was but with the state of the world as it is today, it's dazzling, brilliantly flawless, impressive vision is coming closer to reality making it even more disturbing and even ahead of it's time today. Utterly unmissable and written and directed to perfection by cinema's most daring auteur to date, this is the finest film made in britain and one of the top 10 ever made. an bold statement perhaps but an true one.