What can I truly say about this overlooked classic? It is one of many cult classics, but not many people (including Roger Ebert) have acknowledged this great film achievement from the mind of Stanley Kubrick himself. He not only directed the movie, but also adapted the novel by Alex Burgess into an unbelievable screenplay. (Because I appreciate film more than literature, I do not plan on reading the book and possible having it ruin my love for the movie; however, I have heard that there are some differences.)
It was 1971. The movie was rated X, and Kubrick edited it for a rerating. The edited footage was burned. However, there are some shots from these scenes available. It's been banned in quite a number of countries. Enough backstory, let's read the damned review!
The movie opens. Classical music, a favorite of mine, is what Kubrick constantly used in lieu of an actual score written specifically for the movie. This is how he starts the picture: Alex DeLarge (Malcolm McDowell) stares at us long and hard. He is letting us absorb him. Make sure we understand him. He takes a sip of his milk. We zoom out (or at least Kubrick does), and revealed is the Korova Milk Bar. No, no, no, this is not the first time Alex and his droogs (Pete, Georgie, and Dim; played by Michael Tarn, James Marcus, and Warren Clarke, respectively), for they come here every so often to reach a certain high, which is the best way I can put it, from the milk. This gets them in the mood "for some ultra-violence", the useless beating and raping of people. They go out and beat up an old bum. The bum reveals in a speech the setting: we are in the future, a somewhat post-apocalyptic world, where law and order does not exist. (This is what caught my attention when I first heard about the movie.) They continue their work by going to the home of a couple, beating the husband and raping the wife... while they make the husband watch.
We then learn that Alex has sexual (and I guess you could say masturbatory) feelings towards the music of Beethoven. He does not simply find the music "orgasmic", but to be a sex object that he lusts for, like a busty, long-legged blonde woman. We also learn that he steals money from the people he and his droogs "hit". All of this information alone scares many people away. They find the film disturbing, sick, vile, and gratuitous, among many inappropriate adjectives. What people do not understand is that this movie is deeper than that: there is much more to it. But, of course, I myself did not understand it either the first time around at thirteen years young. But a few years later, I fell in love, and I will continue to tell you why.
Even though the character of Alex is played by a thirty-year-old man, he actually goes to school and is only fifteen years of age, according to the novel (which makes the aforementioned events that much more disturbing). After his droogs say that they want more of the cut, a bigger slice of the pie, (or simpy said) more money from what Alex steals, he gets mad, and beats them. They then know who the real leader is, according to one of Alex's many voice-overs. One of the droogs tells him of this woman who lives with a lot of cats. This is the next woman they are going to attack.
Alex sneaks in with the help of his accomplices and murders the woman with a phallic statue, which he does not mean to due on purpose. Instead of helping Alex escape, Dim slaps Alex in the face with a milk bottle. They run away, and Alex is caught by the police.
When it is discovered that Alex killed the cat lady (which is her name, by the way), he goes to jail. Here is where we find out about a fantasy of his: he thinks of how it would be to nail Jesus Christ to the cross, just as a young boy thinks of putting his hands on a woman's supple breasts (not in a sexual way, but with the same passionate feeling). He does not enjoy the "preachy-talky" part of the Bible, but likes the stories about men killing their friends to marry the widows, for example. He then learns of a new experiment: a scientist is looking for a prisoner to use as a guinea pig, which will allow the him to get out of jail.
When a man looks at the men in Alex's cell block to see who he wants, Alex acquiesces with something the man says, and when this man finds out Alex committed murder, he is ready to take Alex, and refuses to look at any one else: this man is perfect for the experiment.
Alex goes into what is known as the Ludovico treatment. He is in a straightjacket and strapped to a chair. There is a contraption on his head that keeps his eyelids open. A scientist is next to him with some of what appears to be eyedrops. The
