Review of A Clockwork Orange (1971) by Tim O — 02 Jul 2014

The quintessential Stanley Kubrick film, forget 2001, or Full Metal Jacket, it is A Clockwork Orange. Some consider The Shining to be Kubrick's reining masterpiece, but I do not. Now, I can see why some people might think this, but let me explain how I view this film.

A Clockwork Orange does feature moments of intense violence/nudity, but I feel that this is justified. A lot of people that view the film do not understand how someone could possibly like Alex, but I find that quite absurd.

While he does commit heinous acts, he is a very quirky character, and we understand that his life is fueled by violence. We should be able to understand that there are people out there that have psychopathic tendencies very similar to Alex's, and that is a reasonable thing to maybe be offended by.

However, the film is played to over exaggerate just how much he does enjoy doing these horrible acts. So it isn't a realistic portrait; therefore, the film shouldn't be viewed as such. Without the excessive violence, we wouldn't be able to see how much the character of Alex truly enjoys violence and to what extent.

When you really think about it, it's a study of a character and what he enjoys doing. The appalling nature of his hobby is what the main purpose is. If it didn't have graphic examples, we wouldn't consider him to be a very interesting character.

He would just blend in with so many others. That's what solidifies Alex as one of the most influential and important characters in cinema, and what propels his movie to one of my favorites of all time.