Landmark After Dark

"Violence is a very horrible thing. That's what you're learning now."
 Stanley Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange was beyond controversial upon release, and some would still say that even today. Having lived almost forty years with this influential film, we may be only a little closer as to understanding the statement and satire intended by Kubrick and the novel's author, Anthony Burgess. That's what makes it so powerful -- there is so much to digest here, making repeat viewings a must.

The story follows Alex DeLarge (Malcolm McDowell), a charismatic psychopathic delinquent and his buddies as they commit terrible crimes throughout a futuristic England. Alex's capture and rehabilitation is the heart of the film, providing an ideological conflict between freedom and control, between government and individuality, even censorship. It even questions technology and scientific advancement: just because it can be done, should it?
 
And, of course, this is a Stanley Kubrick film. A Clockwork Orange is also a treasure trove of cinematic techniques -- Kubrick in his prime. Love it or hate it, you will have to admit that this is a freight train of a movie.