A Clockwork Orange
The meeting of {OD–JAZD} Film Club
The waiting time is coming to an end and, for the third time, the {OD-JAZD} Film Club is taking all cinephiles on the most offbeat journey through the extraordinary world of cinema!
We kick off in the strongest way possible, with one of the most controversial films ever made. Stanley Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange is, for some, an iconic philosophical treatise on the limits of freedom and subjugation, while for others it is a shocking apologetics for violence. Who is right?
Set in the near future, the story revolves around Alex, the leader of a demoralised group of hooligans whose only pastime is to make life miserable for others. However, their carefreeness is interrupted when Alex is arrested after one of his violent outbursts. In prison, he is presented with an offer: he will regain his freedom in exchange for undergoing innovative psychological therapy...
The futuristic adaptation of Anthony Burgess’s novel has generated controversy since its first screenings. The film was nominated for an Oscar in four categories, while being banned in many countries due to the extent of violence it contained, and the brutal Alex DeLarge, played hypnotically by Malcolm MacDowell, made history as a cinematic rascal. Years pass and discussions about the moral tone of the story continue to this day.
Can Kubrick’s film be classified as an adaptation or rather a travesty of Burgess’s novel? Where does the director draw the line between freedom and subjugation? What purpose does the film serve?
We will try to answer these and many other questions together with our club’s expert Diana Dąbrowska. We invite you to the screening and discussion, during which you will be able to ask questions and share your ideas on how to interpret the film, even – or especially – the most offbeat ones. What do you think A Clockwork Orange is about? We want to hear your opinion!
Diana Dąbrowska
film scholar born in the south of Italy, film critic, educator, organiser of film events and reviews, artistic director of the Hommage à Kieślowski Film Festival in Sokołowsko (from 2019). She publishes, among others, on Filmweb portal, in ZNAK, Ekrany and KINO magazines. She runs the project “Accademia of Italian Cinema” which consists of educational online meetings and podcasts, where she looks at more or less known works of great cinema from the Italian Peninsula. Co-editor of the academic publication (together with Anna Miller-Klejsa, PhD) Kino włoskie po 1980 [Italian cinema after 1980] (University of Łódź, 2018). Author of the podcast Kieślowski 2.0 – Nauka o filmie poprzez twórczość Krzysztofa Kieślowskiego [Kieślowski 2.0 - Learning about film through the work of Krzysztof Kieślowski], featuring Agnieszka Holland, Janusz Zaorski, Michał Oleszczyk and Mikołaj Jazdon, among others. Winner of the second place in the prestigious Krzysztof Mętrak Competition for film critics (2020), the audience award in the National Competition of Film Speakers organised by the Polish Federation of Film Societies (2020) and the Leopold Staff Award for promoting Italian culture in Poland, with focus on cinema (2018). In 2022, she received the prize of the Polish Film Institute in the Film Criticism category. Her greatest treasure is Kędziorek, a cuddly canine friend, who is a known pup film expert and a regular at many film festivals.
