A group of young men are sitting in a milk bar getting ready for their night out on the town. They leave and find an old man drunk under a bridge. They beat him. They stumble across another group tearing the clothes off of a young woman so they can rape her. They start a fight and beat them up.
That's how this classic film opens up. It shows a young gang, incredibly violent and without a shred of shame. The leader accidentally kills a woman while robbing her and is sent to prison. He volunteers to undergo a radical treatment that will give him early release.
The treatment involves applied behaviorism. The patient is forced to watch movies of violence or sexual situations. His eyes are forced to stay open so he can't turn away. He's also made sick so as to associate the two things. Afterwards he is unable to fight or become sexually aggressive. There is a problem though. The treatment has left him vulnerable to his former victims. An accidental side-effect has also turned him away from Beethoven, his one and only pure love.
This is probably the most gratuitously violent and sexual movies I've ever seen. There is nudity everywhere. Any excuse for naked artwork is taken. The accidental killing is done with a giant plastic penis, for instance. Frankly, it's too much. The violence isn't as bad. (Probably just desensitized or something.) The original film was rated X and that's what the DVD version has on it. The film underwent periods of censorship and was even pulled by it's director (Kubrick) after a copycat rape.
Is it a great film? Kubrick knows his filmmaking, there is no doubt about that. The movie is hypnotic and it's difficult to turn away. It's also sickening at times. I can understand the appeal but I didn't care for it.
1 comment:
While I appreciate this movie for the art of it - it was (and remains to be) the only movie that has made me physically ill.
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