Stanley Kubrick - A Clockwork Orange (1971)

Stanley Kubrick's most controversial, powerful and important film is a glimpse into an Orwellian future of nightmarish ultra-violence. Social decay is mirrored by political depravity. Kubrick applies his technical genius to a story of deep ironies and enduring relevance.

Gran Bretaña, en un futuro indeterminado. Alex es un joven hiperagresivo con dos pasiones: la ultraviolencia y Beethoven. Al frente de su banda de "drugos", los jóvenes descargan sus instintos más violentos pegando, violando y aterrorizando a la población. Cuando esa escalada de terror llega hasta el crimen, Alex es detenido y, en prisión, se someterá voluntariamente a una innovadora experiencia de reeducación que pretende anular drásticamente cualquier atisbo de conducta antisocial.

Violence perpetrated on society becomes violence perpetrated by society

Malcolm McDowell stars as Alex, leader of a gang of young 'droogs', who wreak havoc and perpetrate 'ultra-violence' wherever they go. Rape, mugging, fighting and murder are everyday activities for them. But there's more to Alex than violence – he's a boy with family problems, who likes Beethoven's Ninth, and is trying to deal with his world as best he can.





It all goes wrong for Alex when he is involved in a violent murder, arrested and imprisoned. While in prison, he is offered the opportunity to try a new 'treatment' for violence – a form of brainwashing or aversion therapy. Keen to be free once more, he agrees, but never realises how much of what is important to him will be taken from him during the treatment.




This is Kubrick's astonishing commentary on violence in society, long withdrawn by its director after public outcry, and finally available once again to audiences. The violence in this film is extreme but wholly necessary to understanding who Alex is, what he is about, and ultimately what is done to him. One is left questioning whether goodness imposed through lack of free will is not just as violent as the behaviour of a bunch of teenage thugs. Malcolm McDowell deserves particular plaudits as the disturbing but sympathetic Alex – he has to be likeable for the film to work, but without condoning the violence which he carries out, and McDowell achieves this perfectly. Music plays a significant part in the film, and the choice and use of the music does its job admirably. This is an outstanding and definitive film, which has made audiences think for more than thirty years and remains as relevant today as when it was made.
One of Kubrick’s greatest masterpieces and a definitive film of its age. Has as much impact as a baseball bat to the head, but is much more enjoyable.




My rip with meGUI from the Optimum Blu-Ray DVD

Cruda y sarcástica hasta más no poder, La naranja mecánica es una de las películas más radicales de la historia del cine. La atrevida unión de música clásica, ultraviolencia y sátira dan como resultado un filme de alto voltaje crítico que agrada y desagrada por partes iguales, que crea adeptos y detractores allá por donde pasa, que hiere y que encanta. Y es que al genial Stanley Kubrick, igual que a esta película, se le ama o se le odia. No hay medias tintas.

Nominada a 4 Oscar: película, director, guión y montaje, fue prohibida -tanto su exhibición como su venta y alquiler- durante 30 años en el Reino Unido.

Script/Guión: Stanley Kubrick (Novel: Anthony Burgess)
Music/Sonido: Ludwig van Beethoven, Gioacchino Rossini, Edward Elgar, Erika Eigen, Terry Tucker
Cinematography/Fotografía: John Alcott
Cast/Reparto: Malcolm McDowell, Patrick Magee, Michael Bates, Adrienne Corry, Warren Clarke, John Clive, Aubrey Morris, Carl Duering, Paul Farrell, Clive Francis, Michael Gover, Miriam Karlin, James Marcus, Geoffrey Quigley, Sheila Raynor, Madge Ryan, Philip Stone