“A Clockwork Orange” is a dystopian sci-fi film written and directed by Stanley Kubrick, and adapted from the initial novel by Anthony Burgess. This film released in 1971, a mere three years after the release of the incredibly influential “2001: A Space Odyssey” by Stanley Kubrick as well. It’d take a lot of effort and money to create a film as great as 2001, and to everyone’s surprise, Kubrick produced a better film (in my opinion) overall, and with a tighter budget of just over two million dollars compared to the twelve million dollars of 2001. While the atmosphere, set pieces and effects weren’t as good, A Clockwork Orange provided a greater story and cast of characters. So, before I give my final verdict, allow me to dive into this film with you. So, without further ado, let’s go.

Part I - The Plot

The plot of A Clockwork Orange is a disturbing one. It involves the main character, Alex DeLarge, partaking in truly horrific acts. He isn’t even in his twenties and his main interests are rape and violence. He also loves Beethoven and his pet rattlesnake. You heard that right: he loves rape and violence, and these interests are clearly seen within the opening minutes where we see Alex and his “droogs” (another word for friends), Dim, Georgie and Pete, beat an old homeless, drunken man, brawl a fellow gang of rapists and assault a woman in her home while making her husband watch.

As the film progresses however, Alex finally snaps with his droogs and decides the beat them, causing them to smash a milk bottle on Alex’s face the next time they attempt to rape another woman, which thankfully never happens, but Alex does kill her… with a penis statue, which is (arguably) worse. An injured Alex is left screeching in pain as the police arrive and arrest him. After spending some time in prison, Alex partakes in a new form of medication for criminals. It is debatably the most disturbing part in the entire film because it involves a machine widening your eyes while being forced to watch horrific imagery. Alex is forced to watch videos of rape and violence with the eye machine, causing him to become traumatized by the two horrific acts that he previously loved.

Alex is then released from prison, and thankfully he doesn’t commit any more crimes for the rest of the film, but he runs into two of his old droogs and they take him to a bathtub out in the woods where they proceed to drown him and beat him. Alex doesn’t die, but he becomes extremely injured and flees to the house where he committed his initial rape, at least as shown in the film. He meets the husband again, but sadly the audience discovers that the woman got raped to death. The husband says that, and I don’t know if that can actually happen, but if it is possible, that is likely one of the most terrifying deaths of all time.

The last minutes of the film is one of the most conflicting endings in cinema history. Alex drank a glass of wine at the husband’s dinner table at the house, and Alex’s face plummets into the plate of spaghetti he made, unconsciously. It is then revealed that the husband did that intentionally, presumably drugging the wine. Alex awakens in a room to the sound of Beethoven music. Alex begins to shout and scream as the music becomes louder and louder, causing him to leap out of the room’s window, to his presumed demise.

However, that is not the case. He once again awakens, but this time in a hospital as he is fed by a nurse, visited by a psychiatrist and his parents come in to greet him and apologize for how they didn’t let him into their home again, and rightfully so obviously. The last shot in the film is Alex having his picture taken by multiple cameramen and camerawomen for news publications as he imagines himself having sex with a woman while a crowd of people clap around him.

What a film. What an ending, too. It’s terrifying to think that Alex got away with everything he did. And on top of that, the last shot of him having sex with a woman could revive his true nature once more. Which could’ve spawned theories of a sequel, but firstly, the ending is so perfectly chilling and conflicting that a sequel would likely completely ruin the initial masterpiece, and secondly, no matter how good the sequel would be if it ever existed, it’d never ever live up to the first. Anyway, the reason I said it’s one of the most conflicting movie endings ever is because it makes some people feel sorry for Alex, despite being undisputably evil throughout the entirety of the movie. I personally felt slightly sorry for him, but only when he was partaking in the new medication. But in every other scene I couldn’t feel sorry for him. If you feel sorry for him, just remember that throughout the movie he committed horrific crimes and got away with it too. But that’s why this movie’s ending is nearly perfect in a nutshell. It makes a chunk of the audience feel sorry for a rapist and murderer.

Part II - The Cinematography

The camera shots in this film are beyond amazing. John Alcott, the lighting cameraman, worked on 2001 and later worked on “Barry Lyndon”, another Stanley Kubrick. The lighting in this film was especially important, for example, in the opening minutes when Alex and his droogs beat the homeless man, they needed lighting to make it more visible, which John Alcott delivered perfectly, but on top of that it also shows the shadows of Alex and his droogs walking down the alley, which adds a legendary effect in my opinion. The film is filled with shots of lightbulbs, and that is presumed to be a feature of the future, another cool detail. As previously mentioned, this film had a low budget, especially compared to 2001, but the camera shots and cinematography stayed gorgeously crafted. One of my favorite examples of this film’s beautiful cinematography is the market scene, where Alex is seen walking down a vibrant and lively marketplace. The lighting, the angles, the little easter eggs, including a 2001 music CD displayed on a record store’s counter. Also, I’m sure most people can agree that the sex scene after where two girls go home with Alex to make love is hilarious. It’s a time lapse, so it’s extra fast and just seeing the three move quickly around the bed is really funny. It’s especially funny when the two girls get up and get dressed, only to undress themselves again and get back into bed. Kubrick could’ve just created a normal sex scene, but instead of going for that, he decided to go for comedy, which I must say is a definite refresher after the scenes beforehand. And finally for this part, I must mention the killing of the cat lady, which is generally considered rather comical. Alex picks up a penis statue (as previously mentioned) and thrusts it downward to the cat lady’s head. The camera shooting up and down while showing the screaming cat lady can come off as creepy or funny, but regardless of your opinions on that shot, it is simply fact that the artwork showing rapidly afterward, coming on the screen then coming off then coming on again is shockingly genius and plain and simply amazing.

Part III - Things I Didn’t Like

I absolutely adore this film and if you scroll down a little further you will see my pleasant verdict, and while I do like to find things I don’t like about movies and games etc. I review pleasantly, this will be difficult because this film succeeds when it comes to fulfilling it’s purpose, to show the psychology of a young man and to show the aftermath of the price he pays. This film also includes brilliant camera shots and set pieces, as previously mentioned. But, that doesn’t make it immune to any criticism at all, which I hate to admit. Here’s the only criticism I can really think of: I don’t like Alex’s droogs. They do push the story forward; they’re the reason Alex goes to prison and they help him commit crimes. But they feel like just that. Objects to push the story forward. They don’t feel like people to me, they don’t really have personalities, and I know that you can’t add backstory for every individual character, but firstly, I would’ve liked a little more information on them, and secondly, they feel so average that I forgot their names.

The lack of personality for the droogs was my least favorite aspect of this film, but I still tolerate them. But that’s the only downside to this movie that I can think of. The rest of the film is damn near perfect.

Part IV - Final Verdict

Overall, A Clockwork Orange is a masterful take on psychology, a masterful success in cinematography and the plot deserves the recognition it got back in the day when it initially released and to this day deserves the praise. Stanley Kubrick peaked with this masterpiece and I don’t believe he can craft a greater movie.

Out of 10, I give A Clockwork Orange my perfect rating of 10.