A Clockwork Orange

First things first: this movie has an awesome soundtrack.

Now, I know that the movie is not technically complete because it's missing the last chapter of the book but, having that unbeknownst, I think it is important to look at the movie for what it is, as one whole.

The movie is well recorded and the blu ray disc quality is acceptable by HD standards. The film starts immediately as soon as the disc is read and bypasses the main menu. You can access the main menu for extras, subtitle options, and/or commentaries via your blu ray player's controller. I did not like this feature that much but, considering the movie is terrific, I've overlooked that.

I won't spoil the movie but I will say this: This film is not for children, and it contains nudity and violence.

I think the movie does not celebrate ultra-violence nor the old in-out in-out but rather one's ability to choose for oneself.

Thank you for reading this and have a great day.

I had never had much interest in seeing this famous 1971 film of Stanley Kubrick until Nathan Andersen, a professor of philosophy and film, at Eckerd College, Florida, kindly gave me the opportunity to read his book "Shadow Philosophy: Plato's Cave and Cinema". Andersen's book explores the ways in which film presents philosophical issues. He offers a detailed look at "A Clockwork Orange", and he tries to show the relationship of the film with some of the thoughts of Plato in "The Republic" focusing on the allegory of the cave and the nature of art. I needed to see "A Clockwork Orange" to get a sense of Professor Andersen's book.

"A Clockwork Orange" is a complex, thoughtful film that deserves the attention that Andersen's book gives it.. The movie is set in England of the future and features a young hoodlum named Alex who also narrates much of the film for the audience through a voice over technique.. The movie is filled with graphic sex and violence particularly ins opening scenes. The film has and retains a large shock value and was banned in its native England for many years. A lover of Beethoven, Alex is a ruthless, sadistic criminal who beats, rapes, robs and ultimately kills with his small gang. His exploits are on display in the first third of the movie. In the middle third of the film, Alex is sent to prison for 14 years for murder but is able to secure early release by subjecting himself to a new therapeutic technique, the Ludovico technique, which is designed to make wrongdoing physically and emotionally repulsive to those undergoing the therapy. The climactic scenes of the film occur with Alex strapped in a chair watching vicious acts of violence and rape similar the types of acts that landed Alex in prison. Among the many problems raised by use of the Ludovico technique and among the many issues suggested by the film is the nature of free will. The film suggests that Alex becomes an automaton as a result of the treatment. The psychiatrists and others using the treatment argue that they are not taking a position on "higher ethical" questions but are instead taking a "pragmatic" approach in that the treatment "works" and will stop antisocial behavior of criminals such as Alex. The final third of the film includes many twists as Alex is released into society again only to confront and to be victimized by many of the people whom he had wronged grievously before he went to jail.

The book I read explores philosophical questions, such as the nature of freedom and the nature of goodness, suggested by the film as well as broad questions about the nature of reality using Plato and his allegory of the cave as a guide. The book also gets inside the film by trying to examine the interaction between the events shown on the screen and the response of the viewers to show how the film is provocative and thoughtful. The film works not merely through the presentation of ideas but though its cinematography, including the use of music, photography, timing, facial expressions, and the many techniques cinema has developed over the years to express feeling and action.

Professor Andersen's book gave me the motivation to see the film and helped shape my response to it. Still, there was an immediacy and a sharpness to this movie that analysis can't fully capture. There is a panache and a brio with the dark humor, the music, and some of the sheer inanity of the situation that give the film a unique and a disturbing character. It held my attention, but I found some of the film more sophomoric than deep. I found it odd to laugh at and to sympathize with a character such as Alex. In addition, I thought the film definitely a product of the America and Britain of the late 1960s and early 1970s. It has the mocking tone of the day. Authority figures including government figures at all levels are lampooned and skewered as are psychiatrists, clergy and parents. America seems to me to be still paying for the attitudes of these days. I don't see much of Plato in them.

"A Clockwork Orange" is a multi-layered provocative film that is a product of its time. It is thoughtful but deserves to be criticized and thought through and thought beyond. It can be watched without over-intellectualization, but I am glad to have seen it in the company of Professor Andersen's book.

Robin Friedman

Not an easy movie for a lot of people at the time it came out, I even knew of a group that walked out of he theater, during an infamous scene, because they knew someone for real, who had the same psychopathic mindset as the main character "Alex", I didnt have the opportunity to tell them that this sort of human monster, is all too common throughout the history of the entire world. This movie became a 'cult' film, especially popular with the "punk rock" crowd of the late seventies,& eighties. What really makes this 'dystopian', near-future story interesting is not so much the main character, (despite his being perversely fun to watch & listen to), but the social forces surrounding him, (to which he is actually an abused pawn), & how both the "left" & "right" whilst playing each other, both play into the formation & acceleration of a dismal police state. This story asks a lot of really scary questions about security versus freedom, but has no 'answers'....

I saw this film in college and again as part of my film education. It remains an outstanding example of a Dystopia society that is different than our own. I was surprised to see that Stanley Kubrick (the Director) followed the book by the same name so closely when he filmed it. The book was written in 1963 and has an additional chapter that is NOT found in the film. Despite changes in society, this film is NOT one I would recommend seeing in mixed company because of the graphic (sexual) violence; originally it was rated X. A good film, but...