Review of if.... (1968) by Tristan G — 15 Dec 2009

IF.... is one of the most stunning and rebellious films I've seen in years. This is not the kind of film to watch to be entertained. It is an extremely challenging film, and you can either agree with what it's saying or disagree, but either way, you will not walk out of it unmarked.

It is darkly funny and outrageous. It is the kind of film that time has caught up to. It was ahead of it's time when it was made in 1968, and now it must be listened to. It is about a boarding school in which there are the upper class students who rule the school.

It is required by the law of the school that under class students must constantly obey the upper class students. When a group of under class students decide to revolt, they proceed to plan a violent raid on the sadistic school and destroy what is causing their downfall.

The leader of the group is the charismatic Mick Travis, who just got back from seeing the outside world and is not happy by the small amount of freedom he and his friends get. He is accompanied by a woman he has a satiric encounter with at a coffee shop.

The ringleaders of the group include his partner in crime, Johnny, who has less self esteem but less of a grip on reality, and Wallace, who is accompanied by his lover, Bobby Phillips. When the film gets to it's fierce climax, the audience no longer will have any real sympathy for the school, but will no doubt be surprised by what unfolds.

What makes this film so interesting is to watch the interests of these characters take center place in all of the chaos and confusion. We see a newcomer to the school quickly be reformed while several others don't even seem to complain about their situations.

The entrance of the Mick Travis character is unforgettable. He shows up with a black cloak over his face to shield what is undoubtedly something offensive to some sort of community. When he takes off the shroud to reveal that all that he's hiding is a simple mustache, the audience is shocked.

Just as shocked as they were ten minutes prior to when an upper class student told an under class student to warm a toilet seat for him. A scene that comes later revolves around a simple gesture at a coffee shop quickly disintegrates into hyper passionate love making while the Johnny character casually looks on.

The thee players have a sword fight in which slowly turns desperate as they feel a sense of freedom that they aren't allowed to even experience. There's the most homo-erotic scene in film history in which a student watches another student work out in a gym, which is really quite subtle in it's simplicities.

Toward the end of the film, there are science fiction over tones that allows the audience to take in just how twisted and hypocritical this school really is. When all of this is taken into consideration in what happens at the end of the school, the audience is forced into a moral battle with themselves.

Whose side are you on? The people who are being murdered, or the people who are committing the murders? This is a film that dares to ask these sorts of questions, and this is why I highly regard IF...

. as one of the most important films ever made.