Give me a child until he is seven and I will give you the man.
This project dates back to 1964, with as many of the 14 original participants interviewed on film every seven years. With individuals coming from diverse socio-economic backgrounds, the experiment throws out naturally unexpected results. By the time 49 Up comes around, it’s a little disheartening to see how the participants feel about participating, how guarded they have become of the process, how resentful they are of the intrusion into their lives. It all means that their dissatisfaction has a tendency to come flying destructively to the fore. And I can understand that the participants merely want to get on with their lives, but it feels like many of the group’s ambitions have evaporated by the time the viewer gets through the last DVD. But then how much of that comes down to editing, we’ll never know.
Irrespective of this final DVD, all the series from 7 – 42 Up are enthralling and entertaining. I can’t recommend this documentary enough: part historical document, part philosophical whimsy, full human experience. Apparently, 56 Up will be broadcast in May, 2012. With the exception of a couple of participants, I’m not sure I’m looking forward to watching it.