Narrative technique · used in 2 films
Following a character reshaped by a prison or state system that retrains their beliefs and behavior, for good or ill.
Examples
Stanley Kubrick · 1971
The Ludovico Technique is the backbone of the film. Kubrick gives equal screen time to Alex's original violence and to the state's response to it. He asks whether goodness that is forced on you is worse than evil you choose freely. The ending deliberately refuses to answer.
Where to see it: The Ludovico sequence. Alex is strapped to a chair with his eyes clamped open and forced to watch violence while drugs make him nauseous.
Tony Kaye · 1998
Prison undoes Derek's beliefs through direct experience with people. No therapy or argument is involved. A black prisoner becomes his friend, and the Brotherhood turns on him. The film argues that an ideology falls apart when it meets actual people, and that this comes at a real cost.
Where to see it: Derek's laundry room friendship with Lamont. Working side by side and joking around wears the ideology down.
Questions