In addition to the issue of violence, this movie is also related to "brainwashing"-in the Western world, "brainwashing" seems to be the most terrifying topic, even more talkative than perverted killers, because "brainwashing" means personality Completely obliterate, completely interfere with personal freedom. There are many classic works in the history of film that show the horror of this topic. And this "A Clockwork Orange" puts this question in an extreme situation for torture: even if the target is a shameless and depraved hooligan, should he maintain his right to free choice? Is it just like the priest in the movie said that no one has the right to deprive others of the "ability to make the right choice"?
When the American director Kubrick watched the novel "A Clockwork Orange" by British writer Anthony Burgess, he tried to persuade Warner Pictures to buy its copyright in 1969 for $200,000. Then he started shooting the movie "A Clockwork Orange" with a budget of only 2 million US dollars. In the filming of this film, Kubrick drew on many documentary shooting techniques, including live radio, using only natural light for lighting, and using a wheelchair to create bumpy effects when shooting and tracking shots.
After the filming of "A Clockwork Orange" was completed, it was rated as an X-rated film by the American Film Censorship Council due to its violence and sexual performance. And so it became the second Oscar-nominated X-rated movie after "Midnight Cowboy." One year after the movie was released, Kubrick deleted the 30-second shots in the movie and changed the rating of "A Clockwork Orange" to R. The release of "A Clockwork Orange" in the United Kingdom was even worse than in the United States. It was convicted of several murders and violence. Therefore, Kubrick asked Warner to stop the distribution of "A Clockwork Orange" in the UK. The British subsequently banned the film from being shown in the country, and the ban was not lifted until 2000.
Film critics in New York rated "A Clockwork Orange" as the best film of the year in the United States in 1971, and Kubrick was the best director of the year. It also won Oscar nominations for best picture, best director, best adapted screenplay and best film editing.
At the beginning of the film, there is a close-up of a face. It seems to be smiling, the smile is evil and distorted, it seems to be admiring itself. Then the lens slowly zoomed out, close-up, medium-range, and panoramic. We see the scent of sex and drugs in the surreal interior decoration. This almost Dali-style dream scene is like Freud’s paradise. Like some other typical scene settings in the film, it has a strong surreal style, with weird furnishings, strong colors, and full of sexual hints. Meaning... The
story takes place in the future society. Under the leadership of Alex, a few violent young people started to go everywhere after drinking human milk that was said to contain drugs. They first beat up a tramp on the side of the street, and then found a group of gangsters who wanted to rape a young girl, and fought to report their personal grievances. Kubrick used slow motion to show the fierce battle between the two sides. Tables and chairs are flying in the sound of music, and the glass is broken. That can indeed be called "violent aesthetics" (compare this "violent slow motion", which is equally impressive. There is also the subsequent "sex shot": Alex takes the two young girls home for promiscuity, and Kubrick uses the shot to show the entire sex process).
After a fierce battle, Alex and his accomplices drove at a speeding speed, arbitrarily retrograde on the road. In an apartment on the outskirts of the country, Alex borrowed a phone from the writer Alexander and his wife, the head of the family, on the grounds of a traffic accident. When the door was opened, they rushed into the house wearing masks, assaulted the writer, and gang-raped in front of the writer. His wife... The
next day, Alex beat his infidelity to his subordinates, thus establishing his position as the boss. In the evening, they prepared to enter the home of the rich woman "Mrs. Cat" in the same way. Unexpectedly, "Mrs. Cat" had already taken precautions. Not only did they not open the door, they also called the police after Alex left. Alex missed "Mrs. Cat" and killed him. When he hurriedly escaped from "Mrs. Cat"'s apartment, he was knocked unconscious on the spot by his retaliatory men, and was finally arrested by the police. Alex was sentenced to 14 years in prison for homicide.
Probably because there were too many vicious youths like Alex in that era, and prison resources were extremely tight. In order to alleviate this problem and reduce the evil in society, the government at that time adopted an experimental treatment measure for these young people. The method is simple: after injecting a certain drug into the "experimental product", use personal movies to amplify and pressurize some extremely cruel and bloody crimes, and keep showing the "experimental product". Under the action of the drug, the original desire of the "experimental product" and the body refer to different directions. The innate pleasure and the nausea of the drug make their bodies at a loss. This unbearable state of division will be effective and powerfully restrained. All the evil desires of the "experimental"...
Alex, who doesn't know the details, volunteered and volunteered to serve as the "experimental" for this new government experiment. The experiment was very successful. After the experiment, Alex, as the government wanted, became a "new man" who could not fight back, did not retaliate, had no sexual desire, and would never endanger society... The
original novel author Anthony Bergee When explaining his point of view, Si once said: "Thorough good is as inhumane as thorough evil, and the most important thing is the right to choose morality." And Alex, who is engaged in devilish crimes, is in this thorough good and thorough Survive in the evil, his appearance is organic, it seems to have the color and juice of love, in fact it is just a clockwork toy. And the terrible God or the Devil, and the increasingly perfect state machinery that plays a greater role than them, have never stopped their hands of manipulating everything. They quietly tighten the clockwork for the clockwork toys in the dark. Watching these toys embarking on a path of self-destruction...
Kubrick raised a question in this film about future social thinking that deliberately obscures the characteristics of the era: people are in the future social system. In the process of high-tech development, can you still choose your own behavior according to your own will? Or is it being a "clockwork orange" at the disposal of others without owning its own opinions? In other words, how do people maintain their free will in the social system? —— Kubrick’s question seems to never be answered.
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