Starting at 21:00
He loved violence, sex and Beethoven. Malcolm McDowell in a British cult film.
He lives for three things: violence, sex and Beethoven. Alex deLarge, the leader of a four-man gang of troublemakers, in front of whom no one is sure. They walk around in bowler hats and white suits with big jockstraps, frequenting a dairy bar called "Korova" and drinking the local speciality - drug-laced "moloko", which builds them up to a good dose of ultra-violence every time. Now they brutally beat up a drunken vagrant in an underpass, now they fight with a rival gang, now they rob a peaceful house of decent citizens... But then one day, the proverbial ear gets ripped off and Alex ends up in jail. A prison from which there is only one way out: to become a guinea pig, to be "brainwashed" in the latest experiment so that everything he has lived for so far he begins to not only hate, but outright physically hate...
This crime satire with sci-fi elements is one of director Kubrick's most provocative films. Based on Anthony Burgess's novel and set "in a London of the not-too-distant future", the story - particularly in broken English - shows the influences of the now-defunct Cold War and transcends many of the taboos that existed in cinema up to that point. Naturally, the film drew controversial reactions, and was even blamed for the rise in urban youth crime. Two years later, when Kubrick was already working on Barry Lyndon, he and his family were threatened with violence. For all these reasons, the film was - at the director's own request - quietly withdrawn from cinemas and was not allowed to be shown in the UK until Kubrick's death.
The controversy surrounding the film was reflected in international reviews. Indeed, apart from the New York Critics Circle Award for Best Picture and Best Director, A Clockwork Orange won none of the many awards for which it was nominated (namely 4 Oscars, 7 BAFTAs, 3 Golden Globes...). At the 1972 Oscars, Kubrick was "beaten" by William Friedkin with The French Connection, but at the ceremony, he made a statement that many others seemed to think: that Stanley Kubrick was the best filmmaker of the year...
The film stands and falls with the performance of Malcolm McDowell, without whom - as the director put it - it could not have been made. In the actor's filmography, it is undoubtedly the most distinctive and best role he has ever done, but even he has not received any official credit.
Czech subtitles
Drama / Crime / Sci-Fi
UK / USA, 1971, 136 min
Directed by Stanley Kubrick
In case of bad weather, the screening will be moved to the cinema.
