A Clockwork Orange
A Clockwork Orange is the real birth of modern film and its characteristics. Many traits have become normalised in films we see today, and in no way does it feel dated. Due to this, it enters a special category of cinema that is above everyone else.
The cinematography in A Clockwork Orange is crisp clear perfect throughout the ENTIRE movie. There’s not one shot where you would think ‘that’s framed badly.’ They just can’t be thought of in a negative way. The one-shots, the framing, the close-ups. It’s seriously on point. Additionally, this is probably the best use of music I’ve ever heard in a film; the strikingly beautiful main theme, that is both spectacularly breathtaking and daunting, as well as the electric classical score that powers on through multiple scenes.
Furthermore, the main talking point of this film, the violence, is so unique. Violence can be used in several different ways in cinema, both as a way to express malice and dampen a viewers thought on a violent character, and also to glorify it. This is one of the only films that I’ve seen that does it both. There’s so many famous moments that can be picked from this; the opening 35 minutes is literally iconic scene, after iconic scene, after iconic scene, which is just stunning.
A Clockwork Orange, while heavily controversial when released, eventually worked in the long term, and its message is more relevant than ever today. The world shown in this film is very like our own; extremely explicit imagery and violence are raging among the public, and increasingly authoritarian measures are used by many governments across the world. But the core message of A Clockwork Orange is the real spectacle: Why is it such a masterpiece? Exactly - WHY. The film wants us as viewers to change our attitudes towards events like violence, and ask why - why did something happen, and what was the motive? Kubrick clearly wanted us to question instead of answer for ourselves, and to also question why violence happened instead of facing it head on. 55 years later, A Clockwork Orange seriously holds up.