Review of if.... (1968) by Ken S — 19 Sep 2011

3: The mixing of black & white with color just seems random and distracting. I am not a fan. There are times when altering the texture of color of a film from scene to scene works wonderfully (Pierrot le Fou, Breaking the Waves, Schindlers List, etc), but this is not one of those instances.

Everything about the film through the first two acts or so seems remarkably familiar from many other English, or American, boarding school-focused pictures. However, it eventually departs from the standard script and carves out its own niche as a radically anarchic film in which authority is to be violently fought against, rather than just despised.

The ending is really terribly anarchic and radical. I could hardly believe what I was watching, especially given the relatively normal first couple acts. It should have been obvious from McDowell's demeanor that an explosion would eventually though.

I have to wonder if boarding schools were actually like this in real life (I strongly suspect it is rather sensationalized). McDowell gives a very solid performance that certainly hints at what is to come in A Clockwork Orange.

I some ways this is just as, or even more, anarchic.