28 Up - Part 1 - Up Series Documentary (1984)

Описание: "Give me a child until he is seven and I will give you the man"

This Jesuit motto is based on a quotation by Francis Xavier, and forms the basis of the Up Series, a documentary film that focuses on the lives of 14 children from a range of socio-economic backgrounds in the UK. The series began in 1964, when the children were 7, and has gone on to include a further 7 episodes (one every even years), meaning it currently spans 49 years.

The children were selected to represent the range of socio-economic backgrounds in Britain at that time, with the explicit assumption that each child's social class predetermines their future

In a 2005 Channel 4 program, the series topped the list of The 50 Greatest Documentaries. Roger Ebert decalred that it is "an inspired, even noble, use of the film medium", that the films "penetrate to the central mystery of life", and that the series is among his top ten films of all time. In a list of the 100 Greatest British Television Programmes drawn up by the British Film Institute in 2000, voted for by industry professionals, 28 Up was placed 26th.

Whilst the series began as a political documentary, it evolved into an existential look at the rhythm of people's lives. In the director's commentary for 42 Up, Apted comments that he did not realise the series had changed tone from political to personal until 21 Up, when he showed the film to American friends who encouraged him to submit it to American film festivals. Apted also comments that this realisation was a relief to him and allowed the films to breathe a little more.

"The starkest example of things not going well was Neil Hughes. He went from bright-eyed schoolboy to homeless drifter, and spent much of his 20s and 30s scratching a living in London and the Shetlands. By 49 Up he had found a sort of peace in Cumbria, was active in local politics and in 2010 stood for the Lib Dems in Carlisle. His is the strangest and most extreme of the lives portrayed in the series." (Guardian.com)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Up_Series