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With The Precision of Clockwork
by Yahoo! Movies User (movies profile)
Jun 21, 2007
8
of
9 people found this review helpful
It takes an exceptional mind to produce such a thing as "A Clockwork Orange". A concept that played with logic and morality, that challenged the way we are supposed to think and act. A work of art that was so dangerous, so seductive, it pulled us into a kind of 'forbidden love'. It left us with questions we were afraid to ask, yet burning to know the answers to. "Are we allowed to be so intrigued by such a deliciously vulgar idea? Is it socially acceptable to applaud the raw pleasure of Ultra Violence?" But then, was anyone asking, even considering; "Is this the exact mental double-take the Masterminds behind Clockwork were trying to achieve?"...
The novel A Clockwork Orange was written in 1962 by British author Anthony Burgess. The theme of the book was so contradicting to the "Peace and Enlightenment" movement of the '60's, it caused controversy before it was even released to the public. Burgess was insisted upon to remove the final chapter from the book, which described the main character, Alex DeLarge, converting back to his violent ways. Needing a success, he relented, and we were left with the fairy tale fable of a boy who learns the error of his ways, and becomes every mother's dream. An instant people-pleaser. This is the only version of Clockwork we knew for 9 long years. Until, that is, it captured the attention of another brilliant mind--and this time, it belonged to an American.
Stanley Kubric. A man who throughout his life would become responsible for films such as "2001: A Space Odyssey", "Full Metal Jacket", "The Shining", "Dr. Strangelove: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb", and "Spartacus". A mind that would absorb Clockwork, well, like clockwork. Filming began as the era of peace and love was fading away. 1969.
The overt violence and vulgarity of the film did in fact cause an uproar. Numerous complaints and reports of "Clockwork Copy-cat crimes" led to Kubric receiving harsh criticism in the U.K., and then even death threats. He made the decision to withdraw viewing accessibility from the U.K, until after his death.
When the film was at last re-released to the U.K. in 1999, it was not only a different time, but a different world.
The once 'X' rated film, with a little tweaking, could now probably manage to weasel its way into the PG-13 category. But this only unveiled a whole new challenge. A whole new mind-bending question-- Can a film once banned from an entire nation due to the display of 'petty crimes', and one rather abstract rape and murder scene, even begin to tickle the interests of a generation long since desensitized of violence and vulgarity? A generation that subjected itself daily to death and destruction for nothing more than cheap thrills? Or would it prove once again that there was something else there--a sweet kind of seduction, just waiting to prey on the precious few minds that longed to be intoxicated by a mere concept- a simple idea.
That's where I come in.
Just like an up-and-coming author or struggling garage band must rely on radio and media to even begin to seep into the known world, an idea also depends on a kind of accelerant in order to be acknowledged. Your thoughts don't leave your head unless you speak them. Your intoxicated mind can't release perception until you have grasped the initial idea that made you perceive. And none of this will go anywhere until you have found a place where someone will hear you. My place is here, with my words and unlimited Internet Access. And I have only just begun to relieve my aching mind, 5 hours and 629 words later.
I am an avid film-viewer, and I am forever on the hunt for a genuinely mind-stimulating, insightful film. Ever since I saw "Dr.Strangelove..." I had been intrigued by Kubric's perception and black humor. So when my close friends mentioned a particularily racy film of his they wanted to see, I was immediately researching, trying to find out all I could about this "Clockwork orange", so I could fully prepare myself for what was sure to be a complex film, far beyond my 14 years of understanding that I posessed at the time. And Despite the preperation and anticipation that I had built up, the first time I saw "A Clockwork Orange", I was scared.
Not conventional fear kind of scared. I was disturbed. Yes, despite the countless amount of "slasher" movies, "C.S.I" episodes, and war documentaries I have seen, I was bothered by this movie. Though I didn't give it enough thought at the time, I now can see why that is. It was the pure brilliance.
All of the elements of human emotion forced together like mis-matched puzzle pieces, fighting with my views of "logic" for control. My brain knew predictability. My eyes saw a 'dark figure', my ears heard menacing, low music, and my brain knew something frightening was about to happen. It DID NOT understand how Beethoven could encourage savage, yet pleasurable thoughts in a 16-year-old's head. My brain didn't like this new 'abstract' way of thinking, and therefore it told me that I was scared. THAT was Kubric's brilliance.
I began to expand my brain. Accept new logic, and bend my mind around 'inconceivable' concepts. "Yes, I know Alex is raping and killing innocent people, but isn't he charming?" It takes more than a simple movie to make you think like that. That is exception. Exception to morals, familiarity, and logic. Manipulation of the mind. Precision.
"Clockwork" is a film for the adaptive thinkers. The ones who want to sit there long after the credits have finished rolling, and have something to think about. Do that mental double-take, question reality. Is it really just a film? It did, after all, come from someone else's brain, someone else's perception. Perhaps after seeing this movie, and I do reccomend multiple doses, you can start to leave behind all that is familiar to your desensitzed brain, and expand.
"A Clockwork Orange" will leave you cured, all right.
-R.L. |
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