“A Clockwork Orange” (1971) is a movie adaptation of Anthony Burgess’ novel. Set in a dystopian right-wing society where lust and violence are rampant. This movie is narrated by Alex, the protagonist, who is a juvenile sadistic delinquent with psychotic tendencies.
Alex DeLarge's main interests are acts of grotesque violence such as rape, murder, and torture. He is also the leader of a vicious teen gang that consumed narcotic infused milk before engaging in random nocturnal acts of brutality, particularly against defenseless people.
The society where Alex grew up was filled with excessive exposure to violence and sex, extreme vandalism and littering, overcrowded prisons resulting in low maintenance of law and order. Despite all that, his ruthless behaviors were not a consequence of his environment but rather the psychopathic nature that made him a manipulative, violent, and morally unaware person. He takes immense pleasure in the cruel acts he commits even describing them as if they were the most sublime pieces of art, as exemplified in his admiration of classical composers, especially Beethoven. For him, music and violence come hand in hand as they are both direct and sensuous.
Later in the movie, Alex is betrayed by his “droogs” (friends) and sentenced to 14 years in jail for murder. He gradually adjusted to the life behind bars and after two years he was given the opportunity to reduce his sentence by participating in a new government program, the Ludovico treatment, which consisted of torture on a daily basis. The objective was to forcefully reform his behavior by making him physically feel ill whenever he tries to perform punishable acts.
After fifteen days he was released and when he got home his life fell apart. Now homeless, the worst crimes he committed started to haunt him making him suicidal. Following a failed suicide attempt that left him in a coma, as viewers, we speculate that Alex’s Ludovico treatment was reversed. This was a result of the increasing pressure the population put on the government, upon realizing the atrocities and immorality that the treatment brought with it.
The movie ends with Alex as an accomplice to the state’s machinations, wherein he agrees to cooperate with state-imposed limitations in exchange for socially-acceptable delinquency.
We have some major problems with this movie starting with the pacing, it feels rushed in the beginning and drags throughout the rest of the film which made the experience boring. It never established a solid plot, which would be fine if the main character or the supporting cast were handled correctly. The main character was filmed as a hero while he does not have any redeeming qualities and the supporting cast is too one-dimensional. Lastly, we also came to the consensus that it was a very disturbing movie filled with rape scenes and explicit acts of violence including torture.
Overall, we do not have a reason to recommend this motion picture to anyone since we feel like we didn’t gain anything from watching it.
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