In no place on Earth will that ever be funny. The threesome just described was, in the novella, a rape scene and the two others in the room with Alex were 10-year olds. Kubrick attempts for humor again here during an attempted/interrupted rape scene, some of the violent moments (more forgivable than the previous), and - most visibly - a fast-forwarded full-frontal threesome scene (accompanied to the sound of the overture from William Tell by Rossini) that would have lasted twenty-eight minutes if played in its original speed.Ĭertain alterations Kubrick made to endow humor into this film I find deplorable. In Lolita, Peter Sellers’ character of Clare Quilty is expanded mostly to let Sellers be Sellers and lend an air of absurdity to the proceedings - this proved more annoying than anything else. For me - and not so much for others - this is the fatal flaw of both Kubrick films. It is similar to Kubrick’s adaptation of Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita in that both film adaptations lean towards the more comedic elements of the source material instead of the darker philosophical questions that are posed in both works. The tone adopted by the narration in the film feels somewhat more glorified and celebratory than in Burgess’ original work. But because of the drugs he has taken during the Ludovico treatment, his body can not physically execute the action as he begins to retch.Ī Clockwork Orange was meant to present questions of morality and juvenile physical and sexual violence. For example, when presented with a topless woman in a final demonstration before his release back to his family, the desire to rape consumes him. This deprives him of his free will and effectively limitis his ability to physically harm another person. Sentenced for fourteen years, Alex volunteers for the experimental Ludovico technique, a torturous aversion therapy (the images of McDowell and a contraption keeping his eyelids open are only part of the story) which will make Alex severely nauseous every time he listens to the “lovely lovely Ludwig Van” and especially when his thoughts stray towards the “old in-out” or “old ultra-violence”. After some time, Alex is captured by the police after savagely bludgeoning a woman with a gigantic statue of a phallus. Within the first ten minutes of the film, they down some “milk plus” (drugged milk) and go on a nightly spree for “a bit of the old old ultra-violence” which involves a home invasion and an unflinching rape scene as Alex belts out “Singin’ in the Rain” in the process. Nevertheless, the film’s reputation is outsized and embellished.īeethoven-loving Alex DeLarge is the teenage leader of his group of “droogs” (McDowell… whose character should be 15 but looks anything but) in what is supposed to be and doesn’t look like a London of the future. It is a well-made film with a good central performance from Malcolm McDowell. It is a poor adaptation from the Burgess novella as it isn’t as successful in translating those ideas from page to screen. Returning to it now some years later and finally completing it, Kubirck's A Clockwork Orange has much to say about the nature of violence and questions regarding the mentality of those committing such acts. There were many things I didn’t notice then as I couldn’t finish after 45 minutes or so due to multiple rape scenes and other factors that left me a bit sick. In sophomore year of high school per an online friend’s recommendation, I delved into Stanley Kubrick’s adaptation of Anthony Burgess’ novel A Clockwork Orange.
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