Product: A Clockwork Orange [VHS] (1972)
Rating: 4.0
A Masterpiece of the Mind
Kubrick gives one of his best shows here. The story is very relevant to the modern world; a world in which its rulers and governments has the ability to make a Clockwork Orange out of anyone. Perhaps Alex, the sociopathic protangonist of the movie, deserves to be punished in such a way for his crimes, but he's just the first. Where will the government stop once it has this technique to condition anyone into obedient slaves? What kind of criminals will be dealt with using this flawed quick fix? Murders? Rapists? Theives? Pickpockets? Political criminals? When do we stop delineating wrong from right, and once we do fail to delineate, what stops us from making us all into Clockwork Oranges for our own "benefit"?The camera work is also beautifully done, as in every Kubrick film, and Macdowell gives the character of Alex a grand sense of nihilism. The futuristic sixties-ish set and costums may look a bit weird to us now, but wait for a couple of years, and that style may come screaming back at us from its supposedly eternal grave. Besides, I can think of a few fads and trends we've been through and are going through again that're weirder than the purple hair and the outerwear briefs shown in this movie (legwarmers, anyone?).To wit: buy this movie and watch it. If you're repulsed by it, then Kubrick has done his job showing you what a ultra-violent world might look like; a world which is now stalking us and waiting for a slip-up so it can swallow us alive between its horrorshow jaws.