A Clockwork Orange

"A Clockwork Orange" is a masterpiece. It is a film that shares a perfect balance of beauty and terror, similar to a tornado. The tornado itself is beautiful, but it comes with the terror of destruction and death. Same can be said about Alex and his "droogs" with their fabulous outfits, and devilish makeup. Their acts and literature are outrageous, and criminal, but the genius cinematic framework makes it all so interesting to watch. The man responsible for the beauty and genius of the film is no other than Stanley Kubrick. Kubrick is a remembered legend, with films like "The Shining", "2001: A Space Odyssey", "Spartacus", and many more. Kubrick set a high standard of professionalism and artistic capability in the industry, and when "A Clockwork Orange" was released in 1971, nobody had ever seen anything like it.

The film was adapted from Anthony Burgees's novel "A Clockwork Orange", which was released just nine years before the film in 1962. Burgees created a unique, sophisticated, well structured language for the novel which would later be used in the film. In the beginning it was a mistake, screenwriter Terry Southern gave Kubrick the novel as a recommendation, not knowing that Kubrick would go on to make the picture. Kubrick thought is was genius, the unique characters with their psychological dream-like worlds and well thought out literature. At first author Anthony Burgees did not like the idea of the film at all, but when it was released, he thought it was a masterpiece. Although it was shocking, the film was well received by critics and audiences, but as it grew in popularity, it became controversial. As the picture slowly became a cult classic, young men began to mimic the characters in the film, dressing like them and performing acts of violence in a similar fashion. This became a big problem for Kubrick, in March 1972, several criminal cases were held in court, blaming the film for an influence in violence due to "copycat behavior". Later that month Stanley Kubrick stopped the distribution of the film in England and removed it from the shelves. Despite all of the problems, the film was later released and has since become a masterpiece classic around the world.


The story takes place in the future. It is based on a group of young men called the "droogs". Their leader Alex Delarge (Malcolm McDowell) is a violent deranged boy who happens to have a strong appreciation for the beautiful things in life, particularly Ludvig Van Beethoven's music. They spend their time at the "Karova milk bar" a place where you can indulge yourself to a mescaline-spiked milk, a psychedelic drink that should prepare you for a night of what they call "ultra-violence". They wear white overalls with black bowler hats and thick mascara, holding little baseball bats ready to pound away at any gang or target. Throughout their nights they randomly cause terror to whatever or whomever comes along. Thier days consist of violence, sex, and beautiful music. After a series of events trouble comes along and AlexDelarge finds himself in a tight spot between the police and the local religious groups. What follows can only be described by actually watching the film, I don't want to ruin it for you so I urge you to see it.
To sum things up, this film is a masterpiece, a painting of moving pictures that so well tells the story of an amazing novel.