Clockwork Orange [1972] [DVD]

This film tells the story of Alex (played by Malcolm McDowell), a teenager that has his own gang, and that does all kind of despicable things, from robbery and battery to rape, all without remorse of any kind. This band of outlaws has its own slang ("nadsat", a mixture of English and Russian) and dress code, and only one law: violence. Due to a fall out with the rest of the gang, Alex is caught by the police after commiting murder, and condemned to spend 14 years in jail.

Looking for a way to get out of jail early, Alex volunteers for a ground-breaking experiment, that supposedly transforms criminals into law-abiding citizens. He is chosen, and "conditioned" against violence, the end result being that he feels nauseous merely by the idea of committing a violent or sexual act. A secondary effect is that he now hates the music he had always loved, Beethoven's 9th symphony.

As a consequence of all this, Alex gets an early release from jail, and is thrown into the world without any kind of defense mechanism. The truth is, he has to be a model citizen because he doesn't have any other option. In a way, Alex is like a machine (a "clockwork orange"), because his actions are preordained. But how will the world treat this new Alex?. And do his actions have any kind of merit, if they aren't inspired on free will?. You can answer one of those two questions quite easily if you watch "A Clockwork Orange". The other involves a conclusion you will have to reach for yourself after watching the movie and reflecting on it for a while.

A word of caution is in order, though. "A Clockwork Orange" includes many explicit sex scenes, lots of violence, and parts that will make you recoil in disgust. If you think I'm exaggerating, take into account that even nowadays this movie is not for sale to persons under age 18, and that when it was first released in 1971 it received an "X" rating.

Finally, I want to point out that this movie is based on a book of the same name written by Anthony Burgess, that significantly differs from the film, especially in what regards to the ending. Furthermore, I think it is worthwhile to highlight the fact that Burgess didn't like his own book too much, and absolutely hated Stanley Kubrick's filmic version of it. Unfortunately for him, the movie helped to promote the book, and "A Clockwork Orange" has becomed Burgess' most well-known work.

All in all, and as a conclusion, I think this film is worth watching, and I recommend you to do so if you believe you can stomach the violent parts in order to eventually understand the message beneath them. I prefer to watch other kind of films, but I understand that this is a classic, and that as such it should be watched at least once.

Belen Alcat

A mature audience can thoroughly respect the content of this film, a satirical look at the youth of the time as well as exploring ethical issue of certain ways of reform. It does not contain unplausable violent scenes. It is not a film to make people aware about violence, death and rape, so please do not look at it like that- it has not been made to shock the audience. It is amazingly acted, and by far one of the best films I have ever seen.