A CLOCKWORK ORANGE (1971)

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Legendary director Stanley Kubrick was already at the pinnacle of his career with 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) and Dr. Strangelove (1964) and many others like them in his bag. Then came what is considered as one of the most controversial movie adaptation of all time. A Clockwork Orange came from the novel of same name written by Anthony Burgess. Kubrick served as the film’s director, producer and screenplay writer.

The movie’s central character is Alex DeLarge and his partners-in-crime known as ‘the Droogs’. Alex is narrator, protagonist and anti-hero for the movie. He is described as a sadist sociopath teenager who assaults innocent people, just for fun. He is very keen on music especially composed by Ludwig Van Beethoven. The movie is set in a dystopian England; a nightmare world, where the youths are sociopaths indulging themselves in serious crimes like murder, infiltration and rape; where the milk bars provide drug spiked milk that invigorates criminal activities. The movie’s central theme is indeed very dark. The macabre scene setting, staggering music, artistically stylised cinematography is what makes it a landmark in the dark humour genre of film making. The scenes during Ludovico technique, the costume of Alex- artificial eye lashes only on the right eye, bloody and ripped out eye-balls as cufflinks on Alex’s sleeves are few examples of luridly dark script of the film.

Alex: Let’s get things nice and sparkling clear. This sarcasm, if I may call it such, does not become you, O my little brothers, as I am your droog and leader, I am entitled to know what goes on, eh? Now then, Dim, what does that great big horsy gape of a grin portend?”

Another stylistic element of the film is its dialect. ‘The Droogs’ uses Nadsat as their argot, a register developed by Burgess especially for the novel. Nadsat comprises English words with some influence of Russian, school boy (toddler) words and also teen slangs (Rassoodoks- for brain, cutter- for a penny, Appy-polly loggies- apologies, Eggiweg- for egg, Gulliver- head). Burgess being a linguist too, has done an apt work comprising the whole glossary of Nadsat, one example- Russian word for ‘good’ is ‘khorosho’ (phonetically) Nadsat uses the word ‘horrorshow’  for good. Nadsat word ‘horrorshow’ symbolises the pain that the droogs instil to their victims while enjoying it as a show.

The story progresses with Alex and his nonchalant lifestyle despite of his ‘after-night’ activities. One point of time where he is out casted from the gang and is caught at the hands of law leads him to volunteer for an experimental aversion therapy known as ‘Ludovico technique’, the aftermath and Alex’s subsequent recovery are the main plot points. To add a political dimension to the plot, Kubrick explains, The Minister, played by Anthony Sharp, is clearly a figure of the Right. The writer, Patrick Magee, is a lunatic of the Left. ‘The common people must be led, driven, pushed!’ he pants into the telephone. ‘They will sell their liberty for an easier life!’“ (Talking about the depiction of left wing-right wing politics metaphorically)

The central idea of the film has to do with the question of free-will. Do we lose our humanity if we are deprived of the choice between good and evil? Aversion therapy brainwashes Alex’s mind. The character can’t give a healthy, natural reaction to the particular stimuli. The question on the free will as mentioned above is stated as the philosophical theme by Kubrick himself. The subtle illustration of right wing-left wing politics, now the debate over free will, Kubrick’s popular disbelief of the contemporary modern science (Its ironical that he made one of the best science fiction movie of all time i.e. 2001) is the epitome of solid writing, apt interpretations and some improvisation taken above the novel manuscript. An infamously explicit scene is shot on High-speed skip-frame format. There is a satirical taunt to the slow-motion shots that were ridiculously used everywhere at that point of time.

Apparently the concept of objectivity for rooting against the evil dissolves when it comes to such a charismatic characters. The viewers are bound to root for the characters like Tyler Durden, Walter White, Tony Soprano, Hannibal Lecter, Dexter Morgan or Alex in this case. Talking about the technicality, Kubrick being a perfectionist has used his unique movie making skills and some of his trademarks like ‘one point perspective’ shots, the main characters undergo psychological dilemma- a turmoil, of sorts, in his/her mind which controls all the subsequent events of the film, etc.

http://www.parliament.uk/ writes “1960s was the only decade in the century where crime doubled. Crime continued to rise according to this measure for much of the remainder of the 20th century, with an average of over one million crimes recorded each year in the 1960s, increasing to two million during the 1970s, and 3.5m in the 1980s.” The 1960s saw one of the highest increases in crime rates of the century for UK. The novel was written over three weeks and released in 1962. Mr. Burgess’ first wife was beaten and robbed by some army men. This may have subsequently lead Burgess to write the novel.

The movie is considered to be one of the most contentious movies of all time. The main concerns were contemptuous storyline, explicit and graphic scenes of a mature subject. The movie was withdrawn from British cinemas due to real life examples of crime directly inspired from the movies.

After many years of its release, it is now considered as a master piece. Many subsequent cinematic works have drawn inspiration from it. Most famous of them all is portraying The Joker in the movie The Dark Knight, directed by Christopher Nolan. It was a bold move of Kubrick to make a movie on controversial topics, so much so that till that point of time there was no X-rated movies which received a nod for the Best Picture at the Oscars. Beside this movie, Midnight Cowboy is the only movie to receive a nomination for the best picture at the Academy. Even after much defamation, the movie is still cited, quoted and its legacy continues!

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