Review of A Clockwork Orange (1971) by Michelle W — 18 Oct 2014

**gives away scenes in the movie**.

This movie is one of my favorites. It really gets you into the mind of a psychopath and what makes him tick. Every scene of this movie shows just how his mind is set and what exactly he is after. He is violent and aggressive. To me the name of the movie really can say a lot about it. ''Clockwork'' meaning mechanical. When Alex is arrested he is then placed in a mental hospital where they basically brainwash him to be good. Well, what this movie really symbolizes is you can't play the role of God. Alex is being forced to be good when it's not in his nature. ''Orange'' actually represents a person. How their bright and can stand out. They're simply trying to take is individuality away. They're just trying to make him mechanical. After all the therapy and brainwashing he endures he realizes that every time he is exposed to violence he gets ill. And at a few other scenes in the movie you notice he gets ill from hearing Beethoven.(something he actually found beauty in) Which at some point drives him crazy and he attempts suicide. As he lays in the hospital and promises to keep what really happened secret it shows how he is no longer brainwashed. This is shown when they play Beethoven in the background and his sudden vision at the end. It also represents that you can never mold someone into what they are not. You can't change someone if they don't want to be changed. And in the words of the writer Anthony Burgess: "What I was trying to say was that it is better to be bad of one's own free will than to be good through scientific brainwashing" he also says "When Alex has the power of choice, he chooses only violence. But, as his love of music shows, there are other areas of choice.".