Malcolm McDowell on the relevance of ‘A Clockwork Orange’
The star of Stanley Kubrick’s 1971 film A Clockwork Orange, Malcolm McDowell, has discussed the relevance of the movie in reference to contemporary life.
Sitting down in an interview with Variety, the British award-winner discussed how stunned he was to witness the critical and commercial success of Kubrick’s film which still has its adoring fans over half a century later. “It’s a movie that’s 52 years old. It’s still talked about. It’s a phenomenon,” McDowell states, adding, “I can’t think of one other film that has that kind of [thing]: young people find it, and call it their own. Every generation [does]. It’s a sort of rite of passage. Isn’t that amazing?”.
Speaking about why the film still remains so relevant, he explains, “At first it was the shock of the violence. […] Now, what’s important is the political element, the right to choose and having Big Brothers stay out of your life”.
Shunned upon its release for its brutal and uncensored depictions of sex and violence, A Clockwork Orange was a difficult piece of art to comprehend for general audiences when Kubrick released the film in 1971. Undecided as to whether the film should be praised for its poetic, if morbid, representation of contemporary society or whether it should be pulled from cinemas for its worrying suggestion of personal agency, Kubrick’s film remains an enigmatic piece of filmmaking.
Stalking the streets and terrorising just about anyone who crosses their path, the film follows Alex (McDowell), a vicious thug and lover of Beethoven, and his ‘droogs’, a gang of white-clad youths with black bowler hats and a thirst for “a bit of the old ultraviolence”. Such reaches an alarming pinnacle when the group invades the house of Mr and Mrs Alexander, a wealthy couple of artistic tastes who live on the outskirts of the city.
Take a look at the trailer for the movie, which celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2021, below.
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