Upon leaving the theater after see If....for the first time I too was stunned, shocked..blown away. Never before had such an ending played across the big screen in front of me without the mandatory "fix"....society or good will out. Now it's old hat. Art house fans will love its drawn out scenes and its well place inanities. Youngsters will abhor all of the above. The beat goes on.

I was in a sort of daze for hours after seeing If...for the first time in 2017. A work of art? Certainly but also a poetic historical document. After all the film dates back to 1968. 1968! when things were really changing and youth was taking a step forward, reminding the older generation that we'll be suffering the consequences of your thoughtlessness. So move over or else. I remember my father despising this film, he call it, propaganda. Propaganda?Maybe that's why I never saw it, until now. I was really moved by the film. Malcolm McDowell is the perfect man to incarnate the revolution that was about to come. It also made me look for all of Lindsay Anderson films - Just half a dozen feature films but my God! What an extraordinary director.

If.... is a intriguingly bizarre film, so bizarre that it's comical at times. The film focus's on the cultural hegemony of a traditional hierarchy and the freedom seeking individuals who wish to rebel against the system. Although strikingly odd the film is also a powerful representation of the British class system at the time and even today to some extent.Malcolm MacDowell's cinematic debut is a great one showing himself to be a great British actor, even catching the eye of legendary Director Stanley Kubrick which would then lead to the actors infamous leading role in A Clockwork Orange. O how great things can lead on to much greater things.Lindsay Anderson's direction is interesting to say the least, with a lack of continuity at times and stand out surrealist moments that on the surface baffle any audience member but have much deeper connotations such as; abortion, gender (in)equality, individuality (or lack there of), homosexual repression and rebellion, just to name a few. This film has many interpretations and meanings embedded in its micro elements, so it is rather meaningful even if two people have weird animal fighting sex in a coffee shop...If... is an evocative statement about the British class system represented in the microcosm of the school. Many topics are touched upon in many different and frankly surreal ways making if.... a memorable and important film not just of it's time but for years to come as the title could signify. If this happened today, which side will you be on?

The student are returning to a British boarding school. Mick (Malcolm McDowell) and his friends are the constantly chaffing at the Whips, the upper classmen in charge of the students. The adults defers to the Whips. The lower classmen or Scums are menial servants for the Whips. It culminates in Mick and his friends being canned by the Whips. Mick gives his friends some bullets. Together they go on surreal shooting sprees.I have never been in a boarding school and it's a little tough to get a feel for this movie. This seems more like 'Lord of the Flies' with rules and traditions. Then it throws in some surrealism. This seems very unreal but I can't tell what's reasonable and what's not. I was actually glad when the movie goes fully surreal in the last act. The last half is definitely shocking and takes a left turn somewhere.