7 up! series
I just finished watching the last of the DVDs of the 7Up! series. The documentary film series starts with fourteen participants of various backgrounds at the age of 7 in England and follows up with them every 7 years. Thus far, 7 Plus 7, 21 Up!, 28 Up!, 35 Up! and 42 Up! have been released on DVD. 49 Up! has been recorded and perhaps has aired, but hasn’t been released on DVD.
There are sort of two premises to these films. One is that Britain is a class society and a persons class determines their opportunities in life. The second is the Jesuit phrase “give me the child at the age of seven and I will give you the man. To an extent, both of these phrases are proven and to some extent not.
I liked this series a lot. I found watching these kids go through their lives in rapid succession (I watched these six documentaries in about two months) facinating. For the most part these are just normal people living their lives, but the comparisons over the years and between the various people are interesting.
These definitely take some patience to watch, but they’re worth it.