49 Up
forges a path through the reality TV forest.
The age of reality TV owes its salt to Michael Apted. The English documentarian has spent the past 42 years paving the yellow brick road of the genre with his monumental
Up
series. In 1963, a group of 14 UK schoolchildren of various
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backgrounds were chosen to participate in a cultural study that would film and broadcast their life experiences every seven years starting at age 7. It is now in its seventh installment.
As a result, Apted has created a cultural phenomenon of staggering significance. The mission was to chart the sociological effect of class and education on a cross-section of Britain's youth and, through this charting, predict the future of the country. What was found is that the predominant milestones of the human experience transcend all socioeconomic boundaries. Whether the subject is a cabbie or a barrister for the high courts, it is love, family and the physical changes of aging that dominate the interviews in
49 Up
.
The subjects share themselves without vibrato, some of them making a point of showing respect to their loved ones by leaving them out of the film. Although Apted's interviewing tone is genteel in proper BBC English and his questions are seemingly innocent, there is a probing quality about them that puts some of his subjects on guard. It is as if they know the effect of being open with him and have paid the price in their personal lives. The majority of the remaining 12, now adults and still part of the program, married between 19 and 21, had children and divorced, provoking the debate over whether their experience is a commentary on society or a result of their incidental fame.
The made-for-TV series has all the soporific qualities of a 1980s public access special. The grainy, slightly blown-out
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quality of the video dates the piece even now. There appears to have been a conscious choice to keep the style consistent with its other segments, a decision both commendable and risky. With the frenetic nature of 21st century television and the advancements in technology now available to independent filmmakers, the methodical pacing of
Up
may lose the attention of some viewers.
The focus, however, is appropriately on the content, which weaves the seven episodes in a seamless manner, informing without force or verdict. One of the most moving interviews is with a subject who was homeless in two of the previous segments. Apted asks questions like, "Where do you see yourself next time we meet?" and "Are you happy?" but never infers a judgment or attempts to draw conclusions. In this way, he is as good an interviewer as any, affecting an outcome that creates a mutual fascination among his subjects, viewers and himself.
