A Clockwork Orange
A lot of the time growing up you hear your parents say “that film was banned when I was your age” and you watch it and think, that wasn’t so bad, I remember hearing about The Exorcist being banned and hot take I’m not the biggest fan, Texas Chainsaw Massacre is a 5 star classic that scares me but banned?, surely not, A Clockwork Orange, I understand why this was banned,
From minute one in that classic Kubrick style your hooked with hallucinating visuals and a enticing style that drags you in, the first 50 minutes of this film are a pure horror show, Alex as a pure evil, with his droogs, raping, murdering and tormenting the innocent, why? Because they can and it’s fun, your forced to watch the pure chaos unfold as these disgusting individuals go out each night to contribute nothing but crime to society, and Alex despite his abhorrent nature is a charming and charismatic figure, he’s the villain of the story but also our protagonist, and he takes no prisoners, not even his droogs
The second half of the film is where the more whimsical dreamlike fun of the first half stops and we get the more serious, story driven part, Alex is finally made to pay for his crimes and is invited to take part in this experimental treatment, which leaves us with the question/meaning of the film, “Is forcing someone to be good really the answer, does true goodness come from free will?”, as sick as it sounds as Alex’s new life causes him nothing but pain you find yourself almost feeling sorry for him, almost as if he’s taken on a new innocence despite his past actions, of course if this was a real person you wouldn’t care but Malcom McDowell plays Alex in such a charming way that you can’t help but feel sorry.
The ending leaves us with some open ended answers to our questions, and while the way I interpreted it seems to be the most widely accepted theory there’s still wiggle room to interpret things how you want, as usual Kubrick delivers a great thought provoking film, in his usual dreamy and whimsical style