Product: A Clockwork Orange [VHS] (1972)
Rating: 5.0
What this film says to us in 1999.
The brilliance of Clockwork Orange lies in the manner in which it boldly illustrates the destructive potential of our own society - right up to the point of no return.Those failing to see past the sadistic mentalities of Alex and his droogs are surely being challenged by Kubrick to broaden their scope.It is within the latter half of the film where the more urgent themes of the many within it start to reveal themselves.The manipulations of an ill-directed government,desperate to stem a plague of the most brutal crime,are the most glaring.Whilst not necessarily presenting solutions,Kubrick provides us with stark scenarios.The most discomforting aspect,above all graphic depictions of rape,violence,the institutionalisation of Alex and his subsequent vulnerability(leading to,in my mind,the film's most horrifying visual imagery)is the idea of just how familiar this society is to our own.It may be set in the future,but just how far is anyone's guess.