A Clockwork Orange - Film Commentary

“A Clockwork Orange” is about politics. The Conservatives, who are currently in power, launch a “get tough on crime” approach to regaining control of the violent streets. Their policies include hiring ex gang members as police officers and a draconian reprogramming technique that transforms violent criminals into meek, helpless weaklings.

The opposition party, the Liberals, see an opportunity to make a martyr of one of the early subjects of the reprogramming technique. That subject is Alex, whose life we follow throughout the story. One of the Liberals is a writer whose wife had been brutally attacked by Alex and his gang earlier in the story. That attack gets Alex convicted and sentenced to undergo the reprogramming technique.

The Liberals don’t try to help Alex. Rather, they prey on his weakness in an attempt to get him to kill himself. He will become a poster child for the excesses of the Conservative government.

Since music was played during the reprogramming sessions, Alex, who used to love listening to Beethoven, now becomes violently ill whenever he hears music. The Liberals lock Alex in a room on an upper floor and blast music until he jumps out of a window in a desperate attempt to escape his excruciating discomfort.

The plan fails because Alex survives, and the Conservatives see their own opportunity. They rehabilitate Alex as a gesture to win back public opinion after their reprogramming technique is viewed as unacceptably cruel, even when used on horrible criminals.

Favorite scenes:

- The scene where the Liberals torture Alex with music has Kubrick’s signature visual devices all over it.

- The scene where Alex picks up girls in a book shop is inventive and visually arresting.

- The scene where Alex gets a home visit from his school’s disciplinary officer reminds us of the unsettling parallel between his youth and his ferocious battles on the streets.

- The reprogramming session is bizarre and unsettling. We feel the heavy hand of abuse and intrusion when the government invades our personal space in a diabolical way.