If....

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by Mark Sinker

Type

Studies

Subject

One Film > If...

Keywords

Lindsay Anderson

Publishing date

2026 (March 19, 2026)

Publisher

BFI Publishing

Collection

BFI Film Classics

1st publishing

2004

Language

English

Relative size

Physical desc.

Paperback • 112 pages
5 ¼ x 7 ½ inches (13.5 x 19 cm)

ISBN

978-1-83902-992-9

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Book Presentation:
In his compelling study of if.... (1968), starring which stars Malcolm McDowell as an English public school student who leads a guerrilla insurgence, Mark Sinker traces director Lindsay Anderson's depiction of the progress from repression, conformity and fusty ritual to anarchy and bloody revolt. The film's title is a sardonic nod to Rudyard Kipling's most famous poem, while its narrative explores how prankish rebels are groomed to police an Empire. Released at a time of unprecedented student uprisings in Europe and America, if.... provided a peculiarly English perspective on the battle between generations – the perennial war of the romantically passionate against the corrupt, the ugly, the old, and the foolish. Though its emotional surface is authentically anti-authoritarian, its intellectual substance, as Sinker argues, is rooted in a deep familiarity with the symbols of English ruling-class values.

In his foreword for this new edition, Mark Sinker considers if.... 's continuing relevance in respect of two contemporary phenomena (the ghastly commonplace of school shootings; urban terrorism) including the degree to which we somehow continue to feel sympathy toward this small gang of entitled schoolboys. Contemplating director Anderson's ambivalence towards education, not least the jargons of academic film theory after the 1960s, Sinker reflects on how his own approach to the film was informed by the critical lingua franca of the 1980s music press.

About the Author:
Mark Sinker is a contributing editor at Sight and Sound. His Village Voice essay on Iannis Xenakis was included in Da Capo Best Music Writing of 2003.

See the publisher website: BFI Publishing

See If... (1968) on IMDB ...