Rating of
3.5/4
If?
Looneymanthegreat - wrote on 04/02/13
“If….” I s a 1968 film directed by Lindsay Anderson (who is a man) and stars Malcolm McDowell. The movie is about a young man named Mick Travis who lives in a public boarding school, and shows the events leading up to a school shooting.
The 1960’s were probably terrible (I assume every decade before the world was blessed with my presence was terrible.) Yet despite all of the hippies, wars and Elvis movies, we have a bizarre nostalgia for the decade. Even those who weren’t around back in the day enjoy listening to the Beatles or watching Forest Gump. But time heals all wounds, and now we see the 60’s as a better time instead of a STD filled hell.
“If….” Like so many other famous films released during the decade holds a counter cultural message. It is after all about children rising up against their society in the brashest way possible: by shooting people. The movie in the end is not as much about a school shooting as much as it is about a revolution, a revolution against those who have power over you. This, obviously, is the essence of the counter culture movement.
That said the final scenes of “If….” Would offend many of the proponents of counter culture ideals during the era. After all the Vietnam War was a controversy at the time, and many “hippies” were anti-war. “If….” however concludes in a rather unsavory act of violence.
In the end I’m not sure if we are supposed to like Mick Travis and his band of scallywags. The people who run the school are depicted as mean but not evil. They force their religious ideals on the students, and force the students to shake hands and thank the men who punish them for their discrepancies. Mick Travis on the other hand speaks like a super villain, saying things like, “Violence and revolution are the only pure acts.”
The final scene in the film is one of a schoolchild, about my age, shooting one of the schools administrators in the head immediately after that same administrator pleads with them to stop the killing. The students do not want to discuss the situation, they do not want to try and change the schools policy with pickets and protests and they do not really have the power to do either of those things. They attempt to get what they want with violence.
The title of the film, “If….,” is (unlike most other movies) essential. The movie would not be anywhere as meaningful or poignant if at the end the film the word “Why….,” appeared on screen. The word, If, really is the key here. The movie is not telling us that revolution is a good thing, or that we should submit to our superiors. It simply shows us a situation and asks us a question. The rest is up to us as an audience.
I personally like Mick Travis. This is in part because I am at the same age as the gun-happy boys in “If….” it is also because I, to some extent, sympathize with their situation. My whole life older people have considered themselves better and smarter then me. They often would disregard my opinions and punished me in humiliating ways. Looking back, most of the time the adults were right, the way I saw the world was stupid. In 4th grade, 9th grade and probably now in 12th grade my outlook on the world has been deeply flawed. But that doesn’t make the way adults have talked down to me hurt any less.
“If….” Is a great film. Alienating as well as it is inviting, and as thought provoking as it is shocking. The film asks us, “Is it ok to take life in order to eradicate injustice, and make life better for you? Or is life best lived under those above you, following the rules weather you agree with them or not?” A question that every man should ask himself.
