It's February, and the last of the Oscar films are starting to trickle out of the multiplexes, leaving us with dregs of the Hollywood studio system. Similarly, the writer's strike has reduced television, for the most part, to cheap exploitative reality television.
Things are looking grim, and in our time of need we look to home entertainment. And so I recommend to you a series of wonderful films that are more real than anything reality television has ever given us.
"These films are about people's lives," said director Michael Apted, who was a researcher on "Seven Up" on 1964 British TV.
In "Seven Up," filmmakers wanted to give audiences "a glimpse of Britain's future in the year 2000." They chose 14 7-year-olds from various backgrounds and interviewed them about subjects like money, education and the opposite sex.
Apted returned seven years later to catch up with them, and since then, he has come back every seven years of their lives, asking mainly the same questions. What has resulted is probably the most comprehensive account of the lives of people ever put to film.
This is something different: each epoch is given that age's unique perspective. Personal growth, successes, failures, changes in philosophy and the development of wisdom are shown in startlingly genuine fashion.
The most recent installment, "49 Up," was released in 2005. Jackie, a participant, expressed her concern and misgivings about being chronicled throughout her life by Apted and his documentary series. It's a better account of her life than she could have kept for herself, but at times she feels people have no right to see it.
So far only two of the original 14 have quit the project completely. Another seems to refuse every other episode, while another is contemplating dropping out. Some resent their being chosen for it at such a young age, while some hate the emotional turmoil it brings up every seven years. One even describes it as a "little poison pill." Some find it enjoyable, but you can tell it's not easy for any of them.
It started as a kind of social experiment, seeking to determine if a person's financial status at age 7 would set the course for life. Some of the subjects take predictable routes through the years, while others surprise us entirely. No matter where they go or what they do, they never fail to provoke an emotional reaction from the audience.
Consider one who starts out in a middle-class education. A couple of episodes later, he is an impoverished construction worker. A little later he seems to be teetering on the edge of insanity, wandering homeless through Scotland. And even later he seems to be taking the inevitable road into politics.
Or another man who started in the lower classes. Through the series, he's seemed to achieve very little of the dreams he started out with, such as being a jockey. He's a cab driver and occasional television extra. He's not as privileged as some of the others, but he's probably the happiest out of any of them.
Watching the documentaries feels like what I can only assume having children of your own is like. You have great hopes for them; you want them to achieve their dreams. You are proud of them when they succeed, and sorry when they fail. Yet through it all, they never fail to fascinate and mystify you.
dcoley@unews.com
