Stanley Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange, starring Malcolm McDowell and based on the novel by Anthony Burgess, takes place in a dystopian Britain that feels like it is just around the corner. Alex (McDowell) and his droogs (friends) start their nights in the Korova Milk Bar where one can buy different milk products laced with drugs to enhance your experiences. Once suitably high, the foursome steal a car, have a ruckus with a rival gang, break into a house, and gang rape a woman in front of her husband. We are led to believe this is a pretty typical night.
Buy A Clockwork Orange 4K UHDUnfortunately for Alex, his droogs are getting tired of allowing him to lead the gang. They want to commit bigger crimes that will bring in bigger money. The next night, they break into a woman’s home and the woman fights back. During the tussle, Alex bludgeons the woman to death with a giant sculpture of a phallus. When leaving the residence, his droogs are lying in wait for him and smash Alex’s face with a bottle. Because of this, Alex is still at the house when the police arrive. He is given 14 years in prison for the murder.
A couple years into his sentence, the government offers Alex early release if he subjects himself to a process called the Ludovico Treatment. The treatment involves strapping Alex to a chair in front of a movie screen. His eyes are forced open with metal appliances that look like they were hell to wear in the real world. Then Alex is injected with a drug that makes him feel severely nauseous while being forced to watch videos of sex and violence. The treatment “works” in that Alex now becomes terribly ill when confronted with sex or violence. This is much to the chagrin of the prison chaplain who thinks Alex is now nothing more than a mindless automaton.
Alex narrates the entire film using Nadsat, a jargon-laden teen language Burgess created with the goal of making the novel timeless. Nadsat includes a mix of Russian words, British Cockney rhyming jargon, and just fun ways to say words such as “appy polly loggy” for “apology.” It is amazing how quickly one comes to understand Nadsat as it is so casually thrust upon you during the course of the film. It is rare that the Nadsat isn’t explicably understandable.
Stanley Kubrick leaves his mark on every frame of A Clockwork Orange. The bad guys dress all in white, creating a sort of jubilant mockery to their crimes. There is a long sequence of the droogs driving down a country road that doesn’t hide it is obviously filmed on a soundstage. This adds to the otherworldliness of their surroundings, and their dark mission. The entire plot revolves around Alex and Malcolm McDowell does an excellent job though he does seem a couple years too old for the part. Never mind that, though – A Clockwork Orange is astonishing in its visuals, dialogue, acting, and direction. Highly recommended.
