When it comes to the modern documentary, Michael Apted’s Up series is pretty much at the top of the heap. Innovative, prescient and totally groundbreaking, these documentaries chart a social and personal journey just as absorbing as any fictional feature film.
In 1964, a young Apted made a documentary for Britain’s Granada Television that cut right across England’s social strata. Interviewing fourteen seven-year-olds from racially different backgrounds, Apted held up a mirror to modern England and startled it with a selection coursed by cracks and muddy blemishes. This was a society torn by class division and injustice. As a social documentary, 7Up (the series’ first instalment) was startling and provocative. As Apted continued to interview these people at even year intervals, the series would become something even more profound: an intensely moving social history of characters that audiences would come to love and respect. Tony the plucky cabbie, Nick the laid back scientist, redeemed bad girl Suzy, the emotionally shut-off Paul, working class sweethearts Jackie, Lyn and Susan, toffy lawyer Andrew, sensitive Bruce, illegitimate child Symon and the famously troubled Neil, have all become touchstones in British society. Those that have dropped out (hippy journo Charles, king snob John and embittered solicitor Peter) have become figures of mystery and conjuncture.
With Apted staking them out at age 42, the series takes its most melancholy turn. Hitting middle age, the characters have generally arrived at a resigned acceptance of their lives or a painful realisation that they have not achieved all that they would have liked. The death of parents, the black descent of illness and the departure of children make for an upsetting and incredibly moving experience. For those who have grown up with these people, 42Up will be one of the most touching films they will ever see.
Erin Free, Filmink Magazine
