Seven Up! is the first film in an ambitious documentary series that follows 14 children from the UK and then plays catch-up every seven years. The children speak freely about the opposite sex, money, what they want to be when they grow up, where they plan on continuing their education. Some of the kids are very wealthy, some not so much. One kid claims that he reads The Financial Times so he can check his shares...haha, I'm pretty sure his dad told him to say that!
I've only watched Seven Up!, Seven Plus Seven (the kids at fourteen), and 21 Up so far, so I was hesitant about doing any kind of write-up on the films. But being that 28, 35, 42, and 49 are available as well, it might be a while before I finish them all! And even though I've barely glimpsed the kids in adulthood, I've found it to be very compelling anyway. Many of them are where they thought they'd be. Some work crappy jobs. Some seem content with life, others seem so sad. At seven, they all seem to be presented with limitless possibilities. Then real life grabbed a hold of them.
I'm very interested in seeing the twists and turns that their lives take in the upcoming films, and seeing how much their lives are affected by the fact that we've been watching them grow up, wondering how much is manipulated. Watching these films made me reflect on my own life. I wish somebody had interviewed me so I could see how different I am from the person I thought I might be. We all grow and change, and it's so amazing that this documentary series was able to capture that for the most part.
21 Up, 28 Up, 42 Up and 49 Up are streamable on Netflix, and the others are DVD only...definitely worth checking out!
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