42 Up

In 1964, British tele­vi­sion aired a doc­u­mentary entitled Seven Up, in which they inter­viewed a group of 14 seven-year old school­chil­dren. Every seven years later, another doc­u­mentary appeared to follow the pro­gress of their lives. 42 Up (1998) is the latest of these films, and it is utterly com­pel­ling. The way the film maps the course of these children’s dreams and aspir­a­tions through the years gives you a real insight into both their indi­vidual lives and the society in which they grew up. My only regret is that if I watch any of the earlier films, I’ll know what hap­pens after­ward. Watching this film made me wonder if I’d like my life to be doc­u­mented in this way. It must have been dif­fi­cult for these people as middle-aged adults to look back on some of the things they wanted when they were chil­dren or teen­agers or young adults. Happily, this film finds almost all of them in a period of con­tent­ment as I sup­pose is the task of middle-age. Highly recom­mended, although I’d try to track down some of the earlier films first.