A Clockwork Orange

Malcolm McDowell as Alex

Well ‘A Clockwork Orange’ is a science fiction film directed by Stanley Kubrick. It is adapted from the novel of the same name written by Anthony Burgess. Recently, I happened to see this film. It’s a nice film. It’s about a character named Alex DeLarge played by Malcolm McDowell, who is a psychopathic, interested in violence, sex and classical music especially of Beethoven. It shows how a person indulging in such activity will suffer in the end.

Raping the writer’s wife

We see the movie as a narration of Alex on his life. He is the leader of four member group. They speak a particular language called ‘Nadsat’. They call themselves ‘droogs’. They indulge in all kind of activities like beating people, raping girls, robbing. And then one day Alex is caught by police, as his group members cheat on him, as he had a fight with them earlier. In the jail, he undergoes an experimental aversion therapy for rehabilitating criminals called ‘Ludovico technique’. In this experiment, Alex is placed in a straitjacket and forced to watch films containing scenes of extreme violence while being given drugs to induce reactions of revulsion. During this he develops an aversion to Beethoven music. Well, at the end of the experiment he develops aversion towards all kind of violence and sex. He is released after the treatment.



Well, after the release, he is unable to protect himself from the attacks of his earlier victims, as a consequence to his treatment. At one point he tries to commit suicide by jumping from a building. He survives with injury. Well, in the hospital he is cured of this condition. The internal affairs minister apologizes to him for the experiment, as Alex’s suicide attempt has caused a great deal of controversy against this experiment.



I liked the camera work. Acting of Malcolm McDowell, was very good. I liked his style of acting. He was successful in portraying this, psychopathic character. He also had the same kind of role in the film Caligula. The film had the typical touch of Kubrick.

The film have a lot of violence and nudity. This is criticized by many critics. It has scenes like brutally beating people. A brutal rape. I liked the background music—it created a alienating mood.

One of the scenes, I liked was the scene where, Alex beats his gang member with walking stick near the canal. Well this stunt is done in slow motion in a stylized manner. Alex’s mannerism was very good. I like psychopathic characters.

Well indeed it is one of Kubrick’s best film.