The Film
Audacious doesn’t even begin to describe Lindsay Anderson’s If…., a brutal satire that pulls no punches in its attack on British society while simultaneously achieving daring acts of formal anarchy. Don’t be deceived — while If…. takes place inside a well-mannered public boarding school and features chapter-like section headings, this is no prim and proper picture of academia. Anderson casually flouts any cinematic notion of reality, with a nearly invisible membrane between real events and fantasy.
Malcolm McDowell, in a pre-Clockwork turn, stars as Mick Travis, a senior at a British boarding school that at first blush appears to have all the trappings of a strict, conservative institution. But the power structure there is perverse, and the sadism of the faculty pales in comparison to that of the Whips, a small group of fellow students who enact swift justice on any square pegs while indulging in their own decadent pleasures.
Travis, along with buddies Wallace (Richard Warwick) and Johnny (David Wood), rebels in his own small ways, but isn’t ever behind any grand mischievous schemes. Indeed, the most brutal punishment the group receives — a series of lashings inside the gymnasium — is given as a result of their “general attitude.”
And yet, If…. features a strikingly violent denouement, with Mick’s rage front and center. By this point, it seems clear we’ve drifted into the metaphorical territory of the imaginary, but what else up to that point also qualifies? Is the presence of a dark-haired, slyly seductive girl (Christine Noonan) also completely imagined? How much is Mick only a revolutionary in his own mind?
Anderson keeps viewers on their toes throughout, mixing color and black-and-white footage seemingly at random (originally employed for practical purposes) and playfully messing with structure without ever tipping his hand. But although If…. is no ordinary school film, its precise observations about group dynamics and carefully realized moments between characters (like an exquisite scene that codes blossoming romance through a gymnastics routine) make it one of the best of that genre.
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