Stanley Kubrick is considered the most celebrated film-maker of all time. His contribution to the use of visual effects in the sci-fi genre is revolutionary. Kubrick’s films are taken as benchmark and inspiration by the emerging directors. It’s true that his 1968 sci-fi classic, 2001: A Space Odyssey, is his most ambitious and globally recognized work. But his next venture, the 1971 disturbing crime-noir A Clockwork Orange remains not only a mystery but a controversy.

This year March 7^th, marked Kubrick’s 20^th death anniversary. While he passed away, giving us some of the most legendary cinematic pieces of work, it’s still hard to understand his vision behind telling a story. Kubrick’s films had a reason, had logic and meaning to them, and he made sure to go to lengths to sustain that. Probably that is the reason he wrote the screenplay for almost every film he ever did.

A Clockwork Orange is one such film that Kubrick adapted from a novel of the same name written by Anthony Burgess. In this piece, I not just review it but try to understand what that fil means after almost 50 years of its release. What those themes imply in the modern world and what Kubrick intended to focus on with this venture of his. Before you start reading on, I must tell you that there might be a few spoilers here; so, better watch the film before you go through the piece.

A Clockwork Orange: The Synopsis

The film is set in a dystopian future in Britain, where law and order is disrupted and is constantly dwindled by thugs, murderers, and rapists. One such culprit is Alexander DeLarge (played by Malcolm McDowell). Alex runs a gang of his own where he loots, murders, and rapes his victims while pretending to live a normal life in the day time. His narcissistic and sociopathic nature is, however, shown to be known to others as the story implies he has been to correction centers before. The film follows Alex after he is sent to a correction facility, that experiments on inmates to cure them of their criminal instincts using a technique dubbed “Ludovico.”

In the treatment facility, Alex is shown films of ultra-violence with his eyes wide open on a clamp. He is given drugs and eye-drops to survive that ordeal without blinking. This treatment causes him to hate violence and have him repel from violent actions by enticing a feeling of disgust in him. While he struggles with his new forced persona, he comes across the very people he harmed before and is now in for a payback.

 Analysis: A Clockwork Orange

The first and foremost verdict for a film like A Clockwork Orange is that it’s definitely not for everyone, and it’s undoubtedly not made to impress the investors and financiers with huge box-office returns. Kubrick deals with more significant things in this noir film.

Beginning with the story, Kubrick forces viewers to have two different perspectives while experiencing the life of Alex DeLarge. We see two Alexanders in the movie. The first is who we witness in the first few minutes of the film. This Alex, along with his droogs, embarks on a rampage at nights assaulting, murdering, and raping people for money. But Alex has another motive, which is fun. He kills for sport and harasses his droogs as well when they do not pan out per his demands. And then there is an Alex who, after his arrest, is subjected to a correction technique, which practically “cures” him of evil., but at a high cost. While we viewers explore these two personas of the protagonist, Kubrick brilliantly turns the whole intellect of the film between multiple thematic references.

The Themes

The first theme is political and is right there in the film’s setting. Kubrick has set the film in a dystopian future. Kubrick focuses on the lack of law enforcement in such societies. He somehow connects that results to delinquency and formation of young criminals like Alex. When Alex is taken into Ludovico, we see ministers and law officials keen on curing him by brutal means to save money on prison facilities and fulfill their political desires. The people from the opposition tend to use Alex as a victim of a cruel experiment. It’s a future totalitarian reign Kubrick predicts in A Clockwork Orange, traces of which we witness amidst the warfare tensions, cases of political corruption, fascism, and racial inequality in the present times.

We also delve into the questions of morality. Alex is a criminal, yet, one tends to feel for him as he faces the adverse impacts of the treatment he went through on his psychology and behavior. One tends to realize whether it’s right to force someone against his/her will even though a person has taken lives. At one point we hear, that Alex lost his power to make choices as his treatment has him repel his natural (though criminal) instincts. It raises a question of whether anyone can be genuinely changed without his/her consent and personal commitment towards bringing that change?

Kubrick also showcases elements of misogyny through the fantastic work from set designer John Barry. Throughout the film, women are labeled as objects. The only two murders we see Alex committing are of women. We see pictures of nude women in sexual poses throughout the film. On the other hand, a penis-shaped bust is regarded as an artwork, implying the openness of male sexuality and vulgarity of women’s sexuality. These concerns are often faced and witnessed in modern times, where many cultures restrict women’s sexuality under male dominance. In one scene, we see a nurse having sex with her supervising doctor, which, up to some extent, can be taken as an example of workplace harassment. 

However, it must be remarked that when cases of copycat killings and other crimes inspired by his film began to emerge in the UK, he pulled it off theatres citing that it has provoked evil. Kubrick wasn’t able to handle the fact that A Clockwork Orange inspired true crimes, a fact that he always regretted.

Malcolm McDowell’s Casting

Kubrick’s most definitive masterstroke in this film is his choice of casting Malcolm McDowell for the role of Alex. Malcolm, who was not even 30 back then, has epically bestowed upon us one of the most excellent work of method acting. Surprisingly, it, at the same time, amazed and disturbs viewers to the core. It’s McDowell’s efficacy that allows Kubrick to independently shoot the grotesque sequences without concern for the comfort of his cast.

Malcolm shows an astounding transition between his two personalities. His expressions and his Nadsat dialect add authenticity to his character. Nadsat is a language where the English language is used with slang from Russian influences. That is where the word droogs (acquaintances) comes from. McDowell carries the film on his shoulders throughout and gives the most memorable performance of his career.

The Sets

John Barry’s set design is another selling point for the film. Kubrick has a weak spot for realism in his film, and he tends to show it in every aspect, whether it’s emotions, violence, or nudity. And that is the reason we see a fair share of women without clothes, of course, aesthetically shot in various sequences. The sets designed by Barry perfectly encapsulates the brutality of the film. There are sexual paintings and artwork throughout the film, that is intended to indicate the brutality against women in that dystopian society. Plus, Barry’s sets ensure chaos, use of rusted buildings, and chaotic essence in the environment to support the dystopian setting, which has minimum balance, order, and freedom.

The scenes from Korova Milkbar, where Alex hangs out with his droogs have nude dolls all over the place. People take the milk off the statue’s breasts and treats those fake women with dignity. However, in the same film women are raped and murdered. Barry’s production design was meant to highlight the misogynist theme of the film to a large extent. Similarly, we see Alex’s room full of artifacts that indicate his sex addiction and his cruelty towards women. His room has a huge Beethoven wallpaper to support his deep love for Beethoven and his music. All of these symbolic artifacts and designs tell the story themselves if one has the eye for that detail.

Barry was hired by George Lucas to work on Star Wars following his successful work on A Clockwork Orange, and that earned him an Academy Award. Unfortunately, he passed away before he could begin his work on Star Wars sequel Empire Strikes Back.

The film, in its entirety, is dark and has a disturbing pessimist approach towards telling a story. Well, that is because of the concept, and Kubrick is known to do justice to the script despite what lengths he has to go through. And Barry ensured that Kubrick’s requirements are met.

The Music

In the film, Kubrick has used Beethoven to no small extent. Alex loves Beethoven to the point that he hits his droog when he laughs at someone humming Beethoven. He has a stereo to listen to Beethoven, a luxury at those times. He even has a large poster of him on his wall, and addresses him as Ludwig Wan, as if he personally knows the musician.

But, after his treatment, just like he repels his addictions to violence and sex, he also starts resisting to Beethoven. This rakes us back to the question of morality and choice. Alex is no longer left with his choice to love Beethoven. He repels it with disgust and sickness. It implies how forceful transformation is not possible as it takes out both bad and good from a person and puts them in a world of insanity and self-hatred.

What Does A Clockwork Orange say?

The question it poses is – Whether one should feel sorry for Alex? I say no. Kubrick does put Alex in a position where his conditions worsen, which may lead the viewers to sympathize with him. A similar dilemma has been noticed among viewers of the 2019 film, Joker. However, that’s not the point Kubrick makes. The only statement the film makes is whether a person, good or evil, can be forcibly changed? The same as Joker asked –What is the place of a mentally ill in a corrupt and selfish society?

The themes of bureaucratic corruption, violence, and misogyny make a statement about a disturbed society where personal gains remain the sole concern of the people in it. And Alex, despite being a criminal, becomes a pawn to these people with personal benefits. It’s up to our progressive mindsets to perceive the ending according to our choices. It’s up to the viewer to understand whether Alex was actually “cured.”

Here Kubrick removed the original ending from the book where Alex makes a positive turn. But Kubrick, true to his scientific values, keeps this open-ended for the viewers to challenge their senses.

Legacy of A Clockwork Orange

Though there are several films based on violence that we all have come across in the years since A Clockwork Orange, any of them have hardly appealed to audiences this way or have in-depth themes of morality and psychiatry. None of them has focused on human brutality (not just from the culprit’s perspective) and social, political, and economic subjects of the film’s setting.

Many films in the 21^st-century cinema have inspirations drawn from A Clockwork Orange. The films of Quentin Tarantino showcase a similar level of violence added with dark humor to it, while Kubrick never gave two shits about humor. This film has opened up the director’s ability to create ultra-violence in their stories, breaking barriers of censorship.

Performances such as Ewan McGregor in Trainspotting (1996) and Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight (2008) take inspirations from McDowell’s performance due to his viciousness and insanity he delivered on-camera.

A Clockwork Orange is not made for everyone and is certainly not an entertainer. It’s a deeper understanding of violence, anti-authoritarian society, and the brittleness of human behavior. There’s much more to add; however, A Clockwork Orange will still root out hundreds of perspectives and opinions as per the changes in people’s mentality and values in the years to come.