Mutany in the Sixth Form
It's a start of a new year at the boarding school with Mick Travis (Malcolm McDowell), Wallace (Richard Warwick) and Johnny (David Wood) returning to take their places in the lower sixth form. Mick, Wallace and Johnny stand out from the crowd as they constantly bend the rules and traditions where the Prefects (the Upper Sixth) dish out what ever punishments they like and the younger pupils are expected to do as they are told and act as their slaves. After sneaking out for an afternoon at a cafe where Mick has a fantasy about The Girl who they meet whilst Wallace flirts with a younger boy they return back to the dorm. Under the influence of Vodka they begin to question how things can change and after being on the hand of one brutal treatment too many it spurs them in to surreal action as they take over the school with a stash of weapons which they find.
I never went to a boarding school but did go to an all boys school which had previously been a grammar school and was drenched in tradition. As such there were aspects of "If...." I could certainly relate to from teachers commenting on hair needing to be cut to rules about how to act in corridors and so on. But although I could relate to aspects of "If...." I have to say it is a generational movie, one which I am sure appealed to older teenagers on its release and through out the 70s as the presentation of rebellion against the establishment and tradition probably resonated more strongly than it does now.
Despite this it has to be said that "If...." is interesting in its embellished look at the public school culture where elitism and privilege all come in to play. I say embellished because there is much about "If...." which is simply over the top such as the way the sixth formers act in a school where tradition would have been drilled in to them from the first day they entered the hallowed school grounds. It is the same with the attitudes of the teachers and their behaviour towards the students. But this is of course the intention as it hits home its message which of course is not just about education.
The embellished side leads me to the surreal side to the movie with what happens but other things as well most notably the switching between black and white and colour. Now you will find various explanations across the internet from budget to time constraints and the difficulty of shooting a certain scene in colour leading to Anderson to use black and white more frequently through out the movie. What ever the reason the switching from colour to black and white probably worked back when it was released but now feels like an over artistic flourish, a directional indulgence.
What this all boils down to is that "If...." probably was very good when it was released and I can understand why many may still be impressed with it having watched it back then. But watched now for the first time it just doesn't have the same effect although still certainly worth watching at least once.
