Lindsay Anderson
If...

Usually, at least in Italy, the English actor Malcolm McDowell is associated with the character of Alex DeLarge, the protagonist of "A Clockwork Orange." But doing so does not do justice to McDowell, as it forgets his debut (and what a debut!) in the film "If..." directed by Lindsay Anderson in 1968 and awarded the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Festival in 1969. A film that deserves to be revisited and rightly attracts the attention of the viewer, with the same force as a stone thrown into a dovecote against certain hypocritical Anglo-Saxon decency.

Among the most representative works (perhaps the most significant) of that historical moment at the close of the intense '60s and immersed in the atmosphere of the so-called general protest that swept through the modern societies of the time, "If..." is still today a film that captivates and shatters. Director Lindsay Anderson, the restless son of a high-ranking British family, was among the promoters of the English Free Cinema (or angry cinema) of the early '60s, as well as an admirer and follower of an author like Jean Vigo.

The story represented takes place within a typical English private school (the Cheltenham College), governed by rigid disciplinary methods, including the use of corporal punishment, intending to forge the future members of the ruling class. Behind an appeal to a generic esprit de corps lies a system of harassment, bullying, and abuse by the senior students towards the freshmen (defined as "scum"). A hypocritical, fascistoid, and violent system that degrades individuals.

In this truly leaden environment, however, there is a loose variable constituted by three senior students who do not intend to endorse such methods. These are Mick Travis (the electrifying Malcolm McDowell), Wallace, and Johnny, who stand out as the protesters of the college. They are certainly not comparable to apostles of non-violence, as they are convinced that "violence and revolution are the only pure actions." But their anarchistic violence has a purifying and liberating character, resistant to compromises and reforms in the intent to change the rotten system from within. They are rather proponents of its overthrow to create the right conditions for the birth of the new man already theorized by Marxist philosophers. Their rebellion will clash with the authorities of the institution, but despite the sanctions endured, they will manage to execute a bloody revenge against all the servants of the system during the end-of-year party at the college.

A typical film of '68, "If..." has many good reasons to be rediscovered and appreciated. First of all, Lindsay Anderson is skillful in unsettling the viewer with surreal touches, alternating scenes shot in color with others in black and white, to highlight the contrast between the imaginary dimension and the current reality experienced in the college. An innovative technique that we will later find in some Quentin Tarantino films.

There is then the remarkable performance of Malcolm McDowell, in the role of Travis, which cannot go unnoticed. What stands out is particularly the facial expression, perfectly balanced between innocence and shrewdness, placing him in full detachment from any interlocutor. It would be enough to remember the scene where he spontaneously and boldly turns towards his superior (Rowntree), who is unbearable to him for the way he dispenses, from his "frigid fingers," gifts to his subordinates. The whipping he suffers is inevitable, but his revolutionary purposes will emerge strengthened. Needless to say, when Stanley Kubrick will see "If...", he will know who to choose as the lead actor in "A Clockwork Orange".

Finally, the final part of the film is noteworthy because it alone is worth the price of admission. That cathartic and explosive ending constitutes, in my opinion, the best representation of what was hoped for by a certain Marxist philosophy, according to which it is necessary to move from the weapons of critique to the critique of arms. And if today all this may seem hyperbolic, we must not forget that in the late '60s, we wore the parka and, as good revolutionaries, shared certain revolutionary practices. Certainly, certain terrorist drifts that will occur in the years of lead (the '70s) were not imagined. An additional reason to revisit such a particular film.