Over the past few days I have seen almost all of the Up series. (Thank you Netflix.)The series of documentary films chronicles the lives of a group of English people. A new installment is filmed every seven years. In the first film, from 1964, we meet 7 year old little kids. The most recent one was completed a couple of years ago, when they were 49.
Seeing all the films over a short period of time is really interesting, but also kind of scary. England was, and is, a socially segregated society with a rigid class structure. It's easy to see which ones of the 7-year-olds are working class kids, and which ones are upper class kids. And the same differences are there at 14, 21, 28, 35, 42, and 49 too.
Some of the people are easy to like. You feel for them as kids, and you see the same pain, or struggle, or heart, in the grown ups they become. Or, you hear the little kid formulate an idea, and then you see the 28-year-old act on it.
In some ways their personalities seem stable, in other cases they go through changes. One spoiled little rich girl turns into a fascinating compassionate woman.
I can see parts of myself here and there, and parts of my friends. I think of the people I have known since they were children, and I realize that they too are much the same now, as they were then.
Anyway. Look for it.
