No, not the soda, rather, a series of documentary films following the growth of fourteen British children, starting at the age of seven, with follow-up films every seven years.
“Give me a boy when he is seven, and I will show you the man” is my poorly-paraphrased version of the quote the series seems based upon. Filmed on the thought that this is a glimpse of the leaders and workers of Britain of the not-so-distant future (the first film was made in 1964), the films examine a cross-section of race and social-class and how these and other factors affect the decisions the children make as they grow up.
I just finished the third film, 21 Up, and what struck me most was how well planned some of these childrens’ lives were, notably the upper-class children who attended private schools. At age seven, they could list the various boarding and prep schools they would be expected to attend, all the way through university. And by the third film, most of them (with few exception) followed the path so early laid out for them.
I have to give a special “thank you” to Broadsheet who told me about these films (Michael Apted — “The World Is Not Enough” — directed every film after the first, and served as a researcher on that) at our sushi dinner six weeks ago. I immediately put them on Netflix and then let them linger atop my DVD player as other concerns came to the forefront of my attention.
I’ve got three more films in the series to watch. I was about to write “Presumeably because those left of the original fourteen grew disinterested with continuing the project, there never was a 49-Up“, however according to Wikipedia, “Michael Apted was 22 at the time of Seven Up!, and has plans to create a 56 Up.” Plus, according to Wikipedia, there WAS a 49-Up! (Damn, it’s not listed on Netflix, but it just came out last year).
The entire Wikipedia selection on the film series can be found here. It’s available also through Amazon, and for rental on Netflix.