42 Up (NR) No Rating

In 1963, Granada TV's World In Action investigative group assembled 14 7-year-old English children from different economic strata, documented their play and asked them questions about their aspirations and attitudes on life, promising that what the audience saw would no doubt give an insightful glimpse at the future. The result was one of the best-known documentaries of our time, "Seven Up", directed by Canadian filmmaker Paul Almond.

From there, researcher Michael Apted (now a famed dramatic and documentary filmmaker, debuting his latest, the Bond actioner "The World Is Not Enough" on Friday) picked up the story, revisiting with the 14 interview subjects once every seven years and directing the previous releases "Seven Plus Seven", "21 Up", "28 Up" and "35 Up."

This 1998 installment, appropriately titled "42 Up", takes a look at the former British students at the all-important gate to middle age and is especially resonant, coming so close to the significant year 2000 mark that is pointed to in Almond's original film.

Since the last visit with the group (1991's acclaimed "35 Up"), films like "The Truman Show" and "EDtv" have made the general public question the voyeurism at play in the collective role of media consumer. But Apted, as interviewer and documentarian, is remarkably unobtrusive, and the film, even more so than the previous installments, feels decidedly unmanipulative. With an understated and engaging rather than sensationalistic and exploitative approach, Apted selects illustrative clips from prior visits seemingly without an agenda besides that of enlightening any moviegoer who may be less familiar with the series.

The focus on "42 Up" is more on the universality of life's trials, pointing to the subjects' enduring and sometimes surprising personal strength, with the filmmaker taking what could only be described as a loving look at his subjects. Their efforts, triumphs and struggles are portrayed with uncommon dignity, and while some clips chronicle the contradictory turns their paths have taken, no particular joy is made of this; such moments instead have a nonjudgmental "such is life" feel. The film puts far more stock in the unexpected triumphs like those of East Ender Lynn, who at age 7 expected she'd work at Woolworth's when she grew up, but who instead went on to eke out a rewarding living as a children's librarian, with a strong marriage and healthy attitude toward life's hardships.

The issue of class, a crucial driving matter in the initial project, is addressed by Apted at the film's end, serving almost as an afterthought, with most of the 42-year-old interviewees clearly relating that 35 years later, social class is not what the documentary is about anymore. The only hint at class disparity within the film comes with the attitude about the project held by the three upper-class public school boys -- two of whom opted out of this revisiting, with the third, successful solicitor Andrew visibly uneasy but just as frank as his precocious childhood commentary promised, admitting today that he wouldn't wish participation in this documentary on anyone.

Even this admitted skeptic comes off remarkably well in Apted's focus, where every life is treated with reverence and a respectful understanding that each person's journey is their own joy and struggle, and therefore equally worthy of examination. Seemingly lighter issues like shy schoolteacher Bruce finding love and farm boy-cum-nuclear scientist Nick living in the United States are given as much credence as arthritis plagued Jackie's major financial problems and drifter-turned-politician Neil's personal grapple with sanity.

Uncommonly engrossing and life affirming, "42 Up" is a delightful and moving look at humanity through the singular stories of this captivating group.

*No Rating.

'42 Up'

Bruce Balden

Jacqueline Bassett

Simon Basterfield

Andrew Brackfield

Peter Davies

A First Run Features presentation. Director Michael Apted. Writer Michael Apted. Producer Michael Apted. Director of Photography George Jesse Turner. Editor Kim Horton. Sound Nick Steer. Running time: 2 hours, 10 minutes.