Movie Minx

Starring: Malcolm McDowell, Patrick MacGee, Michael Bates
Directed by: Stanley Kubrick

Plot: Alex, a charming young sociopath who loves both violence and Beethoven, is jailed for murder and volunteers for an experimental brainwashing treatment to reform criminals in exchange for a shorter sentence.

But is it any good?

“You’re a film student and you haven’t seen A Clockwork Orange?” he asked me in disgust. I hung my head in shame. It was 1998 and I was working in an arthouse cinema while studying, that night discussing movies with a stoned Russian boy with dreadlocks selling movie tickets. I’d just switched from Maori to Film Studies and clearly had a lot to learn. So I rented it (R18 after being banned for a long time) and watched it, emerging dazed and deep in thought at the end.

Like all Kubrickian creations, this ain’t no fluff piece. It’s tough going. It’s damn near unbearable at times. But it’s one of those must-views for anyone at all interested in film.

It’s about Alex, a young ruffian who lives at home and studies by day. By night, however, he gleefully goes about wreaking havoc with his gang of friends. Banging on random people’s doors, they pretend someone has been hurt and need a telephone. Once inside they rape and pillage to their hearts’ content - until they encounter Cat Lady, who’s on to their ruse and tries to call the cops. Alex stops her, using a nearby sex toy as Exhibit A. Abandoned by his friends, he’s carted off to prison for murder and tries to manipulate the system by turning “good”.

Soon he sees a ticket out early in the form of signing up for psychological experiments to rid him of his hedonous impulses. The tests turn out so nasty for him, and us, that by the end of the torture he’s as much a victim of this fucked-up society as a contributor. Alex as a character evokes fascination and revulsion; he’s a complex person, one who’s both a silly adolescent and a sick killer, whose mind is manipulated beyond belief. As witnesses to his crimes and their consequences, we’re implicated in both.

The mix of a great soundtrack, inspired acting, bold filming and Kubrick’s direction makes for, if not a masterpiece, a deserving cult classic. Like all Kubrick movies, A Clockwork Orange is confrontational, controversial, ahead of its time and bloody draining. It provokes, delights, maddens, impresses, traumatises and overwhelms. If you’re up to such a challenge, you’re in for a treat. It’s just an exhausting one.

Imdb’s rating: 8.4/10
My rating: 8/10

Next movie to be reviewed: City Lights

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