That Movie Rocked! 75 pts

Columbia-Warner Entertainment

FILM COVERAGE

TITLE:  A Clockwork Orange	SETTING:  England
AUTHOR: Anthony Burgess	PERIOD:  Futuristic
PRODUCER:  Stanley Kubrick	ELEMENTS ATTACHED:
SUBMITTED BY:	SUBMITTED TO:
READ BY:  Claire Petermann	GENRE:  Crime/Action?Sci-fi
COVERAGE DATE:  3-22-14	SUBMISSION DATE:

                                                       

	EXCELLENT	VERY GOOD	GOOD	SO-SO	NOT GOOD
PLOT	X
CHARACTERS	X
DIALOGUE	X
STRUCTURE	X
COMMERCIAL APPEAL	X

RECOMMEND: X

CONSIDER:

PASS:

LOG LINE:  A young delinquent finds his success has run out when he is arrested and used to test a brainwashing technique to cure his evil behavior.

SUMMARY:  Alex, a teenaged gang leader, spends much of his time terrorizing the world around him. He is a very intelligent, perceptive individual who finds great solace in listening to Ludwig Van Beethoven. He and his “droogs” spend much time terrorizing, raping; even sometimes murdering the people of London.

           

          One night on one of the rounds of terror, the masked ruffians break into the home of a man and his wife. During this raid, the man is beaten to a pulp and forced to watch his wife suffer through rape; all the while Alex is delivering a terrifying rendition of “Singing in the Rain” (this is important to remember).

          The droogs begin to undermine Alex’s power over them, and he seemingly hands it over to Dim, who I guess you could say is his very powerless second in command. However, a scene later Alex reprimands his droogs for the treachery they attempt to exact. He pushes Dim into a river and proceeds to stab him in a non-vital area, simply as a means to get his attention. Later, seated at a table, Alex smiles evilly at his droogs and reestablishes his power.

          On yet another mission of dread, the four boys come upon the home of a single, cat-loving woman. Masked yet again to protect his identity, Alex makes his way into her home alone. He spends a dizzying sequence terrorizing her, resulting in her death. When Alex hears the sounds of sirens he attempts to flee. However, his droogs, still sore about the earlier occurrence, knock him out and leave him alone to suffer for his deeds.

          As he so earned, Alex finds himself on the way to prison. Aside from his arrogant way of speaking, he becomes one of the better liked and useful prisoners. He spends his time reading, the Bible especially; however, his interpretation is far from holy. He reads of a new experiment to rehabilitate the evil minds of delinquents, and that they will be coming to his prison in search for a test subject. In a lineup on the day of the visit, Alex makes his presence extremely well known and wins the position.

          Alex is in no way prepared for what he is about to endure. He is introduced to a method which includes his eyes being permanently clamped open so he cannot turn away from the treatment. He is forced to watch videos of the type of crimes he once committed: rape, abuse, terror and murder. He is even forced to watch videos of Nazi activity. He quite enjoys himself at first, because he is just that sick in the head. Suddenly on one occasion he starts to feel ill towards NOT the videos, but the cruel use in his mind of Beethoven to represent evil.

          A group is gathered to witness his transformation from delinquent to honorable citizen. He still has a tendency of wanting to do the dreadful things he once did, as made evident by the voiceover. However, when he tries to perform the acts of abuse and rape made easily exactable, he cannot. He has been cured, but has been torn down and made into someone he is not.

          He is released back into society, but is rejected by his family. He is left to try to find a corner somewhere in the city to live. He is attacked by many of the homeless people he once terrorized mercilessly. A couple of cops reach out to help this individual the find being beaten by  a mob of homeless individuals, but it is soon revealed they are his droogs and they have not forgiven him, nor do they believe he has been rehabilitated. They proceed to take him into the woods, beat him up and drown him to the point of asphyxiation. He is left for dead, but wanders until he finds an eerily familiar home.

          Inside lives the man who was beaten and forced to witness the rape of his wife. She is not dead, and he is paralyzed. He now has an in home hospice person who saves Alex from the rain and certain death. Once Alex begins to focus again, he realizes his dreadful mistake of seeking help from this home. He is recognized, but not for the reason he knows. The man has kept up with the current news, and therefore knows of what Alex has endured. Alex remembers he was wearing a mask, so the man should never know. He is fed, and given a chance to bath.

          This is when Alex makes the biggest mistake of his life. As he is enjoying his bath time, he proceeds to start singing “Singing in the Rain”. At first the man doesn’t notice because he is on the telephone. The moment he hangs up, however, he turns to listen through the door. It is quite obvious that he is tormented at that moment by a flashback of the night and has the most overacted fit of rage I have ever witnessed in my young life. He decides Alex must pay for his transgression. But first he must try to get him to confess. When this fails after a very awkward meal in which Alex starts to realize the grave mistake he has made, the man does his research. Somehow whether it be from the news, he figures out that Beethoven is now Alex’s trigger and blasts it over the record player. No matter how hard Alex tries, he cannot escape this terror. In a last resort decision, he jumps from an upper story window in an attempt to end his suffering.

          It does not work, and Alex wakes up in a hospital with many broken bones and very little memory of what happened. His nurses seem to encourage his old habits for some reason. For instance, when doing a picture association test Alex recites answers we’d only expect from the old Alex. It can be assumed, though it is not outright said, that the treatment was reversed somehow. He is informed of the fact that a man attempted murder on him although he had no tangible proof of his guilt. The man has been put away, and Alex is free to be himself again. At the end there is a sequence in which we go into Alex’s mind celebrating the chance to think freely again.

COMMENTS: I will admit this is one of my favorite movies, therefore I may be biased. It had an exceptional script writing who paid very close attention to the original text and played into Alex’s use of thought to convey important parts of the movie. Alex is way mature and perceptive beyond his years; not to mention he is quite sly. There is a great amount of psychological suspense in the film wonderfully executed by a well written screenplay and the choice of an actor who knows how to improve an already fantastic script. While the use of sexual imagery is a bit overwhelming, I don’t think the movie would have been rightly made without it. It adds to the power lust we find in Alex. Stanley Kubrick always demanded perfection from his work, and didn’t care what it cost. The use of an actual sequence in which Alex’s, or Malcolm McDowell, eyes are clamped open, while almost leaving McDowell blinded, was a massively risky, yet effective choice. There are no loose ends left for the audience, even if the answer is something they have to come to terms with in their minds. Overall, just a wonderfully executed film that I highly recommend, but only if you want to be sufficiently mind-blown.