This 1971 film is one of the most controversial and it’s based on a book that was once banned. A Clockwork Orange, directed by Stanley Kubrick received four Oscar nominations. The film was based on the 1962 book of the same name by Anthony Burgess.
A famous crime film, the tale follows the story of Alex DeLarge, a sadistic gang member who undergoes controversial behavior therapy after getting arrested. Set in a violent near-future Britain, the film employs disturbing themes to comment on psychiatry, juvenile delinquency, youth gangs, and other social, political, and economic ideas.
A Clockwork Orange contains themes of explicit violence and sexual content that led to the book’s temporary ban in the UK, as it was seen as disturbing and potentially dangerous.
It raises questions about free will, morality, and the role of punishment in society.
The film was met with scandal and controversy upon its release due to its numerous scenes of extreme violence, among them rape and later murder committed by Alex and a brutal beating committed by his gang.
Kubrick himself remarkably took the film out of circulation when a copycat attack was reported, with the assailants taking inspiration from A Clockwork Orange, reports Far Out Magazine.
A reviewer on Letterboxed said: “One of the most controversial, violent and disturbing films ever made, A Clockwork Orange is meticulously crafted, ingeniously narrated and brilliantly acted.”
Another person penned: “The most terrifying horror movie that isn’t a horror movie at all.”
Commenting on the film’s style, one person said: “I tried to describe A Clockwork Orange in just a few adjectives but I found myself unable to comprehensibly cover all of the themes it touches upon.
“Sure, I could call it stylish, creepy, daring, sickening, abstract, provocative, pessimistic, unique, modern, courageous, iconoclastic, unsettling, sexual, bold, cynical, and outrageous, but A Clockwork Orange is far more wide-reaching in its ideas than those many words touch upon.”