A Clockwork Orange (1971)

A Clockwork Orange is a movier directed by Stanley Kubrick (Full Metal Jacket) in 1971. Starring Malcolm McDowell, Patrick Magee and Michael Bates.

We are in the face of a legendary work and whoever denies it… is in the democratic and free right to do it.

Introduction

A Clockwork Orange is a movie full of controversy that was withdrawn from his exhibition in the United Kingdom (actually it was because Kubrick’s mother asked him to do so). It is full of violence and it has a moral background that is, at least, questionable This is not a teleplay that defends family life and I probably wouldn’t even let my children watch it (fortunately, I don’t have any, so I’ll watch it with my puppies).

Plot

United Kingdom. In an undetermined future, Alex (Malcolm McDowell) is the leader of a gang of «droogs» who walks the streets of London cultivating his sole two passions: ultraviolence and Beethoven’s music. He and his young followers vent their most violent instincts on any person crossing their path. They beat, rape and terrorize their victims. When their escalation of terror culminates in murder, Alex is arrested and sent to prison. There he volunteers for an ground-breaking re-education experiment aimed at drastically eliminating in convicts the slightest trace of an antisocial conduct. (Filmaffinity)

The Movie

It’s a 70’s work, with all the flaws and it’s also a movie by the genius Kubrick that many of us love and just as many disapprove. It is a special and unique movie that only Kubrick could have made and it is exceptional and transcendent for movie theater for what it meant and for its strength. Aesthetically… a fruit of its time, with a pinch of medium pop of Warhol mixed with the divinity of Ludwig (and even a Rossini overture). A complex work that seems to have aged or perhaps was born older, or always young… that’s the thing about masterpieces, they give a great deal to discuss.

A different Kubrick that does not look like other movies by the same director, and it is true that each of his works is totally different and innovative. You can love one and hate the next and fall in love again in the coming. One never knows, but perhaps this is the most renowned of his movies, perhaps thanks to the controversy it generated.

Malcolm McDowell is great in the role that undoubtedly marked his career.

It is unrivalled, for better or worse, but that’s what the movie is about, the overcoming of the moral concept and a kind of Nietzsche-like superman who moves between the divine and the human.

By the way, if you like it, you should give a quick look at the novel, which is very interesting, and develops more deeply the sense of language that, at least in the Spanish dubbing, is lost a little.

An indisputable masterpiece.

But this comes from someone who drinks whiskey for breakfast.

The Cast

Malcolm McDowell

Malcolm John Taylor was born on June 13, 1943 in Horsforth, West Yorkshire, England, United Kingdom.

You can see him in a new movie that releases this year, She Will (2022).

Malcolm McDowell (born Malcolm John Taylor; 13 June 1943) is an English actor, producer, and television presenter. He is best known for his boisterous, charismatic and villainous roles. He was born in the Horsforth suburb of Leeds and raised in Liverpool. He later trained at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art before embarking on an acting career that has spanned over 50 years. (From Wikipedia)

Movie Reviews

“An ideological mess, a paranoid right-wing fantasy (…) It pretends to oppose the police state and forced mind control, but all it really does is celebrate the nastiness of its hero (…) Rating: ?? (out of 4)” Roger Ebert: rogerebert.com 

“A much-maligned and misunderstood classic, this is one of Kubrick’s finest movies (…) Rating: ????? (out of 5)” Kim Newman: Empire 

“[It] is so beautiful to look at and to hear that it dazzles the senses and the mind” Vincent Canby: The New York Times

Movie Trailer