Stanley Kubrick's controversial film triggered copycat violence
on its initial release and as a result the director withdrew the
film from circulation in Britain, keeping it suppressed right up
to his death in 1999. The film follows sadistic punk Alex
(Malcolm McDowell) as he takes his gang on a rape and murder
spree, showing absolutely no mercy to any of his victims. When he
is eventually captured, the authorities subject him to a series
of experiments designed to rid him of his violent tendencies.
From .co.uk
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The controversy that surrounded Stanley Kubrick's adaptation of
Anthony Burgess's dystopian novel A Clockwork Orange while the
film was out of circulation suggested that it was like Romper
Stomper: a glamorisation of the violent, virile lifestyle of its
teenage protagonist, with a hypocritical gloss of condemnation to
delight in rape and ultra-violence. Actually, it is as
fable-like and abstract as The Pilgrim's Progress, with
characters deliberately played as goonish sitcom creations. The
anarchic rampage of Alex (Malcolm McDowell), a er-hatted
juvenile delinquent of the future, is all over at the end of the
first act. Apprehended by equally brutal authorities, he changes
from defiant thug to cringing bootlicker, volunteering for a
behaviourist experiment that removes his capacity to do evil.
It's all stylised: from Burgess' invented pidgin Russian (snarled
unforgettably by McDowell) to 2001-style slow tracks through
sculpturally perfect sets (as with many Kubrick movies, the story
could be told through decor alone) and exaggerated, grotesque
performances on a par with those of Dr Strangelove (especially
from Patrick Magee and Aubrey Morris). Made in 1971, based on a
novel from 1962, A Clockwork Orange resonates across the years.
Its future is now quaint, with Magee pecking out "subversive
literature" on a giant IBM typewriter and "lovely, lovely Ludwig
Van" on mini-cassette tapes. However, the world of "Municipal
Flat Block 18A, Linear North" is very much with us: a housing
estate where classical murals are obscenely vandalised,
passers-by are rare and yobs loll about with nothing better to do
than hurt people.
On the DVD: The extras are skimpy, with just an impressionist
trailer in the style of the film used to brainwash Alex and a
list of awards for which Clockwork Orange was nominated and
awarded. The box promises soundtracks in English, French and
Italian and subtitles in ten languages, but the disc just has two
English soundtracks (mono and Dolby Surround 5.1) and two sets of
English subtitles. The terrific-looking "digitally restored and
remastered" print is letterboxed at 1.66:1 and on a widescreen TV
plays best at 14:9. The film looks as good as it ever has, with
rich stable colours (especially and appropriately the orangey-red
of the credits and the blood) and a clarity that highlights
previously unnoticed details such as Alex's gouged eyeball
cufflinks and enables you to read the newspaper articles which
flash by. The 5.1 soundtrack option is amazingly rich, benefiting
the nuances of performance as much as the classical/electronic
music score and the subtly unsettling sound effects. --Kim Newman
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Synopsis
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The head of a gang of toughs, in an insensitive futuristic
society, is conditioned to become physically ill at sex and
violence during a prison sentence. When he is released, he's
brutally beaten by all of his old adversaries. Based on the novel
by Anthony Burgess.
From the Back Cover
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The old ultra-violence is back, as ultra-brilliant as anything
Stanley Kubrick ever directed. Demonic gang-leader Alex - Malcolm
McDowell's career defining performance - goes on the spree of
rape, mugging and murder with his pack of "droogs." But he's a
boy who also likes Beethoven's Ninth and a bit of "the old
in-out, in-out." Then he finds himself at the mercy of the state
and its brainwashing experiment designed to take violence off the
street and put it at the service of the government.
With unforgettable imagery, startling music and innovative
language, Kubrick's bizarrely mesmerising film fashions a
fast-moving thriller about free-will versus state control. Hugely
controversial when first released - it had the British Home
Secretary demanding a private view - A Clockwork Orange earned
four Academy Award nominations including Best Picture. Its power
to excite and perturb is undiminished; it's warning about the
state's encroaching hold over the individual, more relevant today
than ever.
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