 | This movie is an adaptation of Anthony Burgess's book by the same title, which I haven't yet read. The story is about Alex, who is the leader of a small group of violent thugs. They rape, beat and mug people at will and enjoy submissive women, drinks and listening to Beethoven. Alex ends up in jail when his friends leave him to be caught one night and becomes a "model" inmate. Due to the lack of reform the jails bring to such men, and the burden on taxpayers, a group of doctors develop a procedure to condition Alex to become violently ill anytime he has thoughts of raping, fighting or misbehaving.
Ironically, it is the jail priest that argues that the procedure doesn't leave a man reformed, it simply takes away his ability to choose. And he argues that a man without the choice to do right or wrong, is not a man at all.
The movie continues with Alex undergoing the treatment and being released in society, and resulting in interesting encounters and conspiracy accusations of the doctors. The movies touches on questions of what makes a man a man, what a prisoner's rights are, etc. This movie also has many more subtle points that I'm sure I've overlooked seeing it only a couple times before.
If you dislike artsy movies, or the pace of Stanley Kubrick's other movies, this may not be for you. But even a friend of mine, who at first looking at the cover refused to watch it, really enjoyed it in the end.
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