Stanley Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange exemplifies the reality of crime and sheer deviant behavior by teenagers, and manipulation and exploitation by the government. Even though the movie is made in 1971, Stanley Kubrick successfully gives it a futuristic look. The movie can be judged as an intelligent shocking piece of work and at the same time it is an outrageously disgusting image of reality, of how a young man transforms into a vicious evil of society and how the deteriorated environment and manipulative government exploits him.
The movie commences by first introducing us to the protagonist of the story, Alex Delarge and his three “droogies” who are sitting in a Korova Milk Bar, drinking Drugged Milk and deciding on what they are going to do for the night. They are sitting in a bar that truly does not look like a bar but prostitution house because of the statues placed all around the bar. Though they are just statues of naked women, it is an appalling sight to see how they are placed in the surroundings. Moreover, this environment clearly is not appropriate for fifteen year old teenagers.
Malcolm McDowell magnificently plays Alex’s role by perfectly portraying his character as a deviant kid, a gang leader and a delinquent offender. From his astute expressions to his sturdy gestures in the movie, one can tell that a lot of effort has been put in by the actor. His villain like quality, how he easily presents him self in the movie is surprising. While watching the movie, it is evident to believe this fictional character as a real person. A superb display of acting is apparent through out the movie. In one of the scenes, after Alex leaves the bar with his gang members, they come across a dirty tunnel where they see an old man in a ragged condition. This gives them the opportunity to do something interesting therefore, they beat him up. That particular scene illustrates the brutal nature of these young men who find pleasure in beating a dirty old man.
As the movie goes on, Alex commits crimes such as burglaries, robberies and raping women. He feels no sense of guilt when he commits these crimes. Let’s keep one thing in mind; he is only fifteen years old and his gang members too therefore, the question that comes to mind is how they got into such things or why would they do such things? Kubrick portrays this by showing us in the beginning and the middle of the movie. Firstly, that Alex lives in a deteriorated neighborhood. As he walks into his building, we see that the elevator is broken, not a lot of people are seen and the place is messed up. Secondly, his parents carelessly ignore his acts and in some ways, are scared of their only son. He makes excuses every time his mother asks him to go to school. This also shows that his mind-set is diverted from good to bad; he has substituted his attention towards more appealing things, which to him are; stealing, drugs, and rape.
Furthermore, the most horrifying and disgusting part of the movie is seen when Alex and his gang members break into a couple’s house and rapes the wife in front of her husband. The most astonishing thing to see was how each actor especially McDowell, so easily rapes the woman in the movie, just like any sex-maniac or criminal would do, with no feelings of guilt or shame whatsoever, by the gang members and him. Stanley Kubrick’s is known for taking the most out of his actors and no doubt! McDowell’s acting in this movie is one of the best in his career .Though there has been controversy surrounding this movie’s release; it is famous in the eyes of the critics and is now widely recognized as a classic piece .In 1971, the movie received two awards from New York Film Critic’s Circle: Best Picture and Best Director. Also the Academy recognized the movie with four nominations: including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Screenplay (Berardinelli).
Many of the actors in A Clockwork orange are not known for huge Hollywood successes, actors such as Patrick Magee, Michael Bates, and Clive Francis, had small careers except for McDowell who has crossed career borders. He can be seen in a recent 2007 movie, Doomsday directed by Neil Marshall.
James Brundage, a film reviewer describes Alex as “a sociopath who lives for two things; Beethoven’s 9th and what he calls “the old ultraviolence.” The biggest part of Alex’s character is his love for music especially the Beethoven’s 9th. How Stanley Kubrick blends crime and violence with music is astonishing because he uses music as a main tool for Alex’s behavior. It’s ironic how music plays a different role in Alex’s character because his emotions are deeply attached to the music. Brundage’s review focuses on the idea that “what goes around comes around,” therefore he illustrates that by first talking about the beginning of the movie where Alex beats up an old man “singing in the rain.” Brundage then talks about Alex breaking into a woman’s house who is obsessed with an expensive decoration piece that looks like a penis. While he is playing around he accidently murders her with the same huge decoration piece. After committing this act Alex is sentenced to 14 years in prison. Brundage then in his last paragraphs talks about the karma taking effect that what goes around comes around. In Alex’s case he commits crime therefore he is termed as the perpetrator but after he is put under an experimental program, he is some what cured therefore when he is let out into the world after the treatment program, he becomes the victim of people whom he once victimized.
Roger Ebert, a prize winning film critic and screen writer describes the movie as a “an ideological mess, a paranoid right-wing fantasy masquerading,” and at the same time shows his disgust for Alex by saying that Alex wasn’t the kind of kid who would conceal his hobbies, no matter how grotesque they were. But if we were to look at Alex’s character from a different perspective, we would see that he is not to blame for the kind of kid he turned out to be. His environment and his interaction with certain people transformed him into this commonly used term “sadistic rapist.” Stanley Kubrick does not hesitate to place Alex’s character in the wrong environment. He puts him there to illustrate that environment and his surroundings are reasons to his messed-up life.
Robert Egbert emphasizes on the idea that Stanley Kubrick portrays Alex’s the way he sees him and not the way society looks at a character like Alex. But in reality, the way Stanley Kubrick sees this character is how the society sees him too. It is not different from the image Alex himself portrays for his viewers. On one side we can look at him as a psychopath or maniac and on the other side, we can sympathize with his character as he is abused by the system i.e., the government. It may seem that I am ignoring all his crime related activities and sympathizing with him but that is because he is only fifteen and any child that age would know how easily he or she can be influenced by deviance or peer pressure. In Alex’s case, Stanley Kubrick introduces us to his three gang members of which Alex is the leader. One point to note is that the gang, his parents and a few other people including a detective are his only social circle therefore it is easily to jump to the conclusion that he is anti-social. And as we know one needs to abide by certain rules in a gang but it is ironic how Alex controls his three droogs constantly. This results in their hatred and resistance towards him. So now his only social circle is plotting against him. When Alex comes out of the house of the obsessed cat lady after murdering her, his gang members avenge him by hitting his head with a milk bottle. The gang members flee away and Alex is taken to the jail, later sentenced to fourteen years in prison. I think that “ The milk bottle, ” is ironic because milk is suppose to be pure and clean, something healthy rather than a tool for avenge but here Stanley Kubrick uses this milk bottle to portray the problems with in the society’s.
In both reviews the lack of sympathy for Alex’s character is perceptible. Brundage and Ebert, both look at Alex as portrayed by Stanley Kubrick. They do not blame the society or his parents for his deviant behavior but rather the kid himself. From the beginning of the movie till the end, Stanley Kubrick pin points all the reasons for Alex’s deviant behavior but then he leaves it to the viewers to either take Alex’s side or the society’s. A Clockwork Orange is described by many an intelligent shocking piece of reality because of Alex’s character but it is not surprising to see that problems in our society still persist, whether it is Great Britain or The United States, crime is crime and it is prevalent wherever there is lack of control, discipline, and respect; In a deteriorated environment with no education or order of law.
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Works Cited
A Clockwork Orange. Dir. Stanley Kubrick. Perf. Malcolm McDowell.1971. DVD.Warner Brothers. 1971.
Berardinelli, James. “Review: A Clockwork Orange.” 1999. <http://www.reelviews.net/movies/c/clockwork.html>.
Brundage, James. “A Clockwork Orange.” 1999. <http://www.filmcritic.com/misc/emporium.nsf/reviews/A-Clockwork-Orange>.
Ebert, Roger. “A Clockwork Orange.” February 11 1972. <http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19720211/REVIEWS/202110301/1023>.
