"I Was Cured, All Right."
In may ways, A Clockwork Orange is the scariest movie I have ever seen. It features some of the most disturbing images and sickening characters to ever be in a movie. Alex deLarge (Malcolm McDowell) is the perfect definition of evil, in the truest sense of the word. We are forced to view the movie through his eyes, through the eyes of one of the most demented movie characters of all time. The movie touches on many themes, but at it's core is violent and sexual repulsion, it forces the viewer to see a darker side of humanity.
Alex and his buddies, regular students by day are something very different at night. They dress as freakish clowns and amuse themselves at the expense of others. Using the rouse of an accident, they force their way into people's home and have their way with them. This usually results in a rape or violent beating. As Alex says in the beginning of the movie: "What we were after now was the old surprise visit. That was a real kick and good for laughs and lashings of the old ultraviolence." Eventually, Alex is caught, and thrown in prison. Not wanting to stay inside any longer, he volunteers for a 'treatment' that will get him out of prison and make sure he never gets back in.
I'm not going to tell you what the treatment. You can rest assured, or not, that this is genuinely disturbing, and not for the faint of heart or stomach. Even I had to take a few deep breaths and look away every few moments. At the same time, it is rivetting, and will keep you watching. His cure is perhaps the most frightening part of the movie, as the viewer is left wondering if he is still in fact a human beating.
Stanley Kubrick is a genius, and this movie defines it. We are treated to a brilliant score, and music with a very odd tone. The film is shot in a manner to make you scare you, and a manner to force you to think. And it made me think. Though Alex is without question, nearly every single character in the movie is evil in their own way. Watch it, and then watch it again, and I'll bet you come to the same conclusion I did.