Review of “49 Up”
Seven years is a long time between episodes, and yet the 7 Up documentary series continues to fascinate – even if you’ve never seen a previous installment. It was back in 1964 that Director Micheal Apted set out to answer a question about class and British society: would a group of seven year olds from different backgrounds follow paths pre-determined by their family status? The group included orphans, working class children from London’s East End and others from middle-class and more privileged families. Apted has interviewed this group every seven years since, layering the results to create a unique study of society.
As time passed, Apted let his initial question about class lie well in the background, preferring to let these people speak for themselves about the way their lives have unfolded. This frequently left the series no more than a social soapie: a unimaginative updating of the jobs and marriages, illnesses and real estate of this disparate group, many of whom clearly loathe the cyclical intrusion into their life.
There’s much of this in 49 UP, and for those fans who can’t wait to find out the latest about Tony (the cockney lad busting with energy) or Jackie (who always likes an argument with Apted) or the enigmatic and sometimes homeless Neil, 49 Up is like a touching family re-union with distant relatives.
But there’s something much more significant and interesting going on this time around. Partly this is due to the age of the group: at 49 they are much more reflective and insightful about the state of their lives. But it’s also because Apted lets the conversations drift over the topic of the documentary series itself. We see that it forces them to formally confront their lives in a way that we can eternally avoid. The result is that, whilst there’s something nostalgic about watching people grow old in front of your eyes, there is also something compelling because in their tentative contemplations we see ourselves.
With a dozen people to cover – including one who now lives in Melbourne - and seven sets of film data to draw on, 49 Up is well over two hours in length and some may find its focus on the ordinariness of existence frustrating at times. Yet it is frequently incredibly moving, touching a below-the-surface fragility that allows us to see that whatever the background of the individual, the same human desires and fears are bubbling away.
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