If....

Last night I was watching the 1968 film If...., directed by Lindsay Anderson, on TV. The film is set in College House, a boy's boarding school in England, where the students are kept in line by rigid tradition and ritual and violent punishments meted out by the staff and the sadistic prefects. The story revolves around three unruly seniors, led by the charismatic Mick Travis (played by Malcolm McDowell), who refuse to conform and plot a violent revenge against the school. The movie is frequenty very funny and often quite disturbing, and is often regarded as one of the best British films ever made. It blends realistic passages with surreal fantasy sequences. One of the most obvious elements is the constant switching back and forth between colour and black and white, which of course critics and academics have put many interpretations and meaning on over the years, although the fact was that according to Anderson, they ran out of colour film while they were shooting and, not having the money for any more, had to finish shooting the movie on cheaper black and white film. The intention of the movie was to show the conflict between tradition and modernity in Britain during the 1960s. It was followed by two semi-sequels: O Lucky Man! and Britannia Hospital.

This morning I went out and got a card fom my Dad for Father's Day tomorrow. I was also looking for books about Canada. There were a few that looked good, so I'll have a think and maybe get one of them later. I'm trying to save money at the moment, so I didn't get anything at all. On my way back home I got my groceries for the week.

Tomorrow we're taking Dad out for lunch at Pizza Express for Father's Day and in the evening I'm going to the premiere of Adventureland, my first film at the Film Festival.