Review of A Clockwork Orange (1971) by Hugeonpluto — 20 Feb 2021

This is a film. A film that wants you to sympathize with a murderer and a rapist. A film that tries to justify criminal behavior. A film that tries to make a deep statement about society, but fails on every level.

But, or course, people love to pretend that's not the case. They pretend that it has some "deep meaning." That "meaning" is constantly thrown in your face every time you dare commit the sin of criticizing it.

What is that "meaning?".

Let's go through the plot and find out.

The film opens up showing us Alex DeLarge and his four "Droogs." They're in a bar called the "Korova," which serves milk laced with drugs. They drink the milk and then start a night of debauchery. First, they beat up an old drunk man. Then, they beat up a rival gang in a fight straight out of a WWE match. After that, they drive to a house in the country owned by Frank Alexander, cripples him, and then rapes his wife. Keep in mind, we're supposed to sympathize with this character.

After that, They go back to the "Kodova" where a woman sings some of Beethoven's 9'th. He strikes one of his droogs for jeering, stirring tension in the group. After that, he decides to call it a night. After Alex gets back to his apartment, he listens to Beethoven and masturbates to the thoughts of death and destruction. Again, we're supposed to sympathize with this guy.

The next day, his probation officer comes to his house for a visit. Afterwards, he meets two women at a record shop and has sex with them at his apartment. When night comes, he meets his droogs in the lobby of his apartment building. One of them challenges Alex, but Alex asserts authority by attacking him. He later decides to rob a rich cat-lady. While robbing the house, he encounters her, and ends up killing her. He tries to escape, but his droogs turn on him and smash his face with a milk bottle, and he gets arrested shortly afterwards. Any sane person would be cheering at this point, but again, the film tries to make you feel sorry for the guy.

Flash forward two years, and Alex, now in prison, is chosen to be part of an experiment. The experiment consists of being strapped in a chair, having your eyelids forced permanently open, being injected with drugs, and finally being forced to watch things you would normally like. During the experiment, he watches movie after movie of death, destruction, sex, and violence. All of this causes him to feel ill at the thought of sex and violence. To add insult to injury, one of the movies has Beethoven playing in the background, causing him to feel ill every time he hears his music.

Afterwards, the effects are demonstrated to a gathering of officials. Remember the "deep meaning" I mentioned earlier? This is where it presents itself. It makes the argument that nobody should have their free will taken away, even when they've used it constantly to murder and rape people. I get where it's coming from, but it clearly could've used a better example. Instead, it gives us a guy who needs to have his free will taken from him.

After the demonstration, he gets released from prison. He goes back to his parents house, only to find his stuff has been sold and his room is now rented out. He leaves, and encounters the old homeless man from before. He, along with his friends, beat the hell out of him. Two police officers break it up, and it's then revealed that the two police officers are his former droogs Dim and Georgie. They then take him to the countryside, beat the hell out of him and nearly drown him. Again, you should be happy this is happening, but the film WANTS you to feel sorry for him. It's honestly shocking and deplorable how much this film wants you to love a murdering rapist.

He is then found by Frank Alexander, the man whom he beat earlier and is now wheelchair bound because of it. He accepts him into his home not knowing who he is. Later he hears him singing "Singin' in the rain" the song he sang while he raped his wife. Now knowing who he is, he drugs him and locks him in an upstairs bedroom. He blares Beethoven's 9'th, causing him to jump out of the window in a suicide attempt. He wakes up in a hospital with all his bones broken. He is given a psychological evaluation. Surprise surprise, he now doesn't have any aversions to sex and violence. The minister, who conducted the experiment, offers him a job at his public relations office. He then brings in a stereo system playing Beethoven's 9'th, which doesn't have any affect on him.

In summary, this is a film that glorifies violence and tries to cover it up with a "Deep message." It's amazing how defended this movie is when it's little more than a orgy of debauchery. Only positive things I can say about it is that it's well shot, and has a good soundtrack.