Movies - A Clockwork Orange

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	Movies - A Clockwork Orange

This article describes the 1971 film by Stanley Kubrick. For other uses of the term Clockwork Orange, see 'Clockwork Orange (disambiguation)'.

A Clockwork Orange (1971) is a film directed and produced by Stanley Kubrick based on the novel of the same name by Anthony Burgess. The film stars Malcolm McDowell
as charismatic delinquent Alex DeLarge, and features a soundtrack by Wendy Carlos.
Synopsis
Set a few years in the future, the film follows the career of a teenager named Alex (surname ostensibly 'DeLarge' - but see below) whose main pleasures in life are European classical music, especially Beethoven, sex of all kinds, and random acts of extreme violence ("ultraviolence" in Alex's idiom). He tells his story in a teenage slang called "Nadsat", which mixes Russian with English slang.

Eventually Alex is caught, jailed, and "rehabilitated" by an experimental program of aversion therapy spearheaded by the government in an effort to solve society's crime problem, which, though rendering him incapable of violence (even in self-defence), also makes him unable to enjoy his favourite classical music as an unintended side effect. The doctors whisper to themselves that "It can't be helped" and that this is "The punishment factor, perhaps?" thus undercutting their own supposed high intentions.

The moral question of the film is that Alex is now "good", but his ability to choose this has been taken away from him; his "goodness" is as artificial as the clockwork orange of the title... a point which the prison chaplain verbalizes in criticizing the technique, echoing a point he had made to Alex earlier, that true "goodness" has to come from within. In fact, the chaplain appears to be the only good and honest friend that Alex ever has, although Alex does not realize it.

Eventually Alex falls afoul of both his former partners in crime ("droogies") and some of his former victims, and tries to "snuff it" by jumping out a window, but fails in the attempt. After a long recovery in hospital he seems to be back to his former self. While in the hospital, the Minister of the Interior (who personally selected Alex for the special treatment) visits Alex and apologizes for the treatment program, saying that he had followed recommendations of his staff. Alex is then promised a position in government working for the party if he'll agree to improve the current political party's public image, which had been damaged on account of Alex's experience. The closing shots of the film feature Alex's voiceover saying "I was cured all right..." with him anticipating his return to creating havoc. However, his final vision suggests that his aggression is now accepted by society since Alex will be working with politicians instead of criminal outcasts.

(It's worth noting that the film's ending, with Alex's return to violent behavior, was created by omitting the final chapter of the original book of the same title, in which Alex matures and "grows out" of his evil habits, eventually becoming an upright citizen.)
Controversy
Rated X on its original release in the United States, the film was nonetheless nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture (it lost to The French Connection) and reinvigorated sales for recordings of Beethoven's ninth symphony. Later, Kubrick at his own option, cut 30 seconds from the film for a re-release, this censored and now R-rated version was released in the US in 1973. While it is a common myth that only the R-Rated version (with the 30 seconds taken out or replaced with less graphic content) can be seen nowadays, the opposite is in fact true . All DVD's are in the original X-Rated form, and only some of the early 80's VHS are in the R-Rated form. The film was rated C (for "condemned") by the United States Catholic Conference's Office for Film and Broadcasting because of its explicit sexual and violent content (such a rating conceptually forbade Catholics from seeing the film so rated; the "condemned" rating was abolished in 1982, and since then films deemed by the conference to have unacceptable levels of sex and/or violence have been rated O, meaning "morally offensive").

In the United Kingdom the sexual violence in the film was considered extreme at the time, with the press blaming the influence of the film for an attack on a homeless person and a rape in which the attackers sang Singing in the Rain. It was widely believed that Kubrick's annoyance at this response led to him withdrawing the film from distribution in the United Kingdom. However, in a television documentary made after Kubrick's death, his widow Christiane confirmed rumours that Kubrick had withdrawn A Clockwork Orange from United Kingdom distribution on police advice after threats were made against Kubrick and his family. (The source of the threats was not discussed.) That Warner Bros. acceded to Kubrick's request to withdraw the film is an indication of the remarkable relationship Kubrick had with the studio, particularly the executive Terry Semel. Whatever the reason for the film's withdrawal, it could not easily be seen in the United Kingdom for some 27 years, until after Kubrick's death.
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Movies - A Clockwork Orange

Synopsis

Controversy

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