Malcolm McDowell was just born to be a young adult/late teenage subversive in the 1960s and 1970s. Between If... and A Clockwork Orange, perhaps no actor is better suited for this type of manic, cruel, and violent youngster who, if they were not such atrocious people, could almost be perceived as being some type of visionary to many. Unfortunately, his characters are always drowned in a perverse love of violence as an expression of the anger festering within him due to the oppression of the world around him. Here, McDowell leads a revolution at a public school in Britain against the "Whips" - students given power over the other kids - and the headmasters who allow the system to stay in place in the name of tradition. Violent, perverse, and always smartly constructed, Lindsay Anderson's If... uses its star to perfection and has used its rather simplistic setting of a British public school to create one of the best counterculture films of the 1960s.

Detailing the love of power shown by the Whips as they act like tyrannical dictators to the children they watch over, If... shows that there are two sides to the coin. In a history class, a professor argues that history is simplified by many to just blame the evil dictators when, in fact, the people under their rule were rather evil too. Exemplified in College House, the Whips use beatings and threats to keep the kids in line while, likely, molesting the younger children assigned to help them. Led by Mick Travis (McDowell), the "Crusaders" are the ones who finally rebel against the tyranny of the Whips. Believing violence and war to be the only art left in the world, the wall of the study room shared by Mick and his fellow Crusader friends has nothing but counter-revolutionaries on it along with naked women. A powder-keg waiting to explode, these two opposing forces of violence lovers are destined to fight by the end of the film, even if this is just a public school.

Used as a representation of the world outside them, these subversives must fight against the abusive and dictatorial government in charge of them. The people, naturally, root for the subversives to topple the dictatorship. However, they are exactly the same. Fancying himself to be a major counter-revolutionary like those on his wall, Mick lusts after violence - even his sex with the girl (Christine Noonan) is animalistic and violence with them lunging at one another making the sounds of a tiger - and would similarly use violence as a tool to keep down insurrection if he were a Whip. With both sides believing in violence, it may seem like there is no reason to root for either side. Yet, Anderson smartly includes a line from the headmaster (Arthur Lowe) where, during a meeting the Whips, he tells the boys that they are teaching the students to be a member of the middle class. Putting the Whips firmly within the elite ruling class and the subversives as a member of the middle class and, thus, "one of us" the film shows the temptation to root for these maniacs as they fight the good fight against those that oppress them. However, as the violent ending shows, no matter how much an "everyman" Mick may be and not matter how much we identify with his struggles in this school, hoping for the subversives to overthrow the oppressors may not always be the best idea.

Paralleling the real events of France in 1968 against De Gaulle and their power hungry nature, the film shows how the "long hair" counter revolution - encapsulated in the film by the Whips constantly telling the students their hair is too long - is one fought by the youth against those who enforce the dominance of the establishment. Serving only to oppress the people they rule, no amount of politics will save them - the girl shoots the headmaster right as he tries to broker a peace deal - as politics is merely a tool by which the ruling class trick the lower classes into believing everything is fair and equal. Thus, even with Mick in control here, he is not one to root for as he too is trying to establish a new power structure within the school. As a man of the people, the people will be fine with this until they realize that, perhaps, the devil they knew was better than the one they did not know.

Smartly directed by Anderson, the film's odd tension and thrilling undercurrent make this a drama that really keeps you on the edge of your seat. Perhaps the best example of this is when the Whips are caning Mick and his two friends. With each friend going into the gym one at a time, the camera stays focused on Mick and whomever is out there with him waiting their turn. For the two friends, Anderson never shows the gym or what is going on. We only hear the blows land and, finally, the kid walking out saying, "Thank you, Rowntree." Building anticipation for what will happen to Mick and curiosity as to what is going on in the gymnasium, Anderson is able to make this slow building sequence into one of fantastic tension that keeps us hooked to the screen for every detail. Furthermore, Anderson often demonstrates great directorial flair in the film as If... often flips between being in color and in black-and-white, seemingly at random. Moments that are otherwise innocuous or later shown in color anyways first appear in black-and-white. Requiring multiple viewings to decipher what purpose this is for, Anderson nonetheless embraces this unusual approach with the film never really showing any ill-effects of this potentially jarring decision. Rather, it is all happens quite seamlessly and without distraction.