A Clockwork Orange

Having read Anthony Burgess's novel years ago and working my way through the amazingly creative, futuristic dialogue, I really looked forward to seeing the movie. It was not a disappointment. In the hands of Stanley Kubrick, it comes to life. It is the product of the desensitized world that we see unfolding before us in the beginning of the 21st century. There will be a lot of Alexes in the future; there already are. We are slowly moving away from conventional morality and playing with forms of nihilism. Our politics are beginning to diminish the individual rights and safety of our citizens. Our young people are beginning to band together in little covens, the cell phone and the computer creating little worlds where anonymity can lead to diminution of what is good. Pardon my diatribe, but what Alex and his droogs are doing isn't all that out of the ordinary these days. The manipulative, controlling, anything for "me" society is just being formed. Kubrick and Burgess had a a vision. Sometimes this movie is called science fiction. The only science fiction thing about it is that it takes place in the future. The violence we see is the violence of those who no longer care what that word means. This whole world is more frightening than the terrorists we see behind every rock. This enemy is us; or the us yet to be.