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| Review Summary and Plot Commentary about 28 Up |
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Michael Apted was a youthful writer-researcher in 1962 when British television brought together a dozen 7-year-olds from disparate backgrounds, to interview them separately and take them on outings. The idea was to follow them through life, to film them every seven years to see where their lives would lead. The first show -- shot in 1962 and released a year or two later -- was called "7 Up." Apted befriended the kids and became the director of every subsequent segment: "7 Plus 7" and "21 Up" followed in their time. "28 Up" was the first segment to be placed on video and made available overseas. There's Symon, a black lad from a single-parent household who by 28 has five children and seems wonderfully unscarred by racism; Jackie, Lynn, and Susan, working class friends; Nick, a farm boy who goes into nuclear engineering and is teaching at the University of Wisconsin; the working class boy who lived part of his childhood in Australia and continues to live there, and another who tried to be a jockey and ended up driving a cab; Susy, from a much higher class background, who went a bit off the tracks for a time; Paul, a 7-year-old aspiring missionary who ends up being something of the sort teaching "maths" to underprivileged immigrant children; and a trio of upper-class boys who go into law and TV production. Perhaps most fascinating of all is Neil, an absolutely beguiling child from Liverpool (you can hear a bit of the Beatles in his voice), obviously sensitive and intelligent, who by "28 Up" is all but homeless, living on the road, in a trailer, and looking more like a pock-faced Bruce Dern. Watching these lives unfold, you can't help thinking about the vagaries of time, and how your life might have looked if someone filmed it at seven-year intervals. "35 Up" and "42 Up" have since been filmed and released on video.
--David Loftus, Resident Scholar
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| Analysis of 28 Up |
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Our unique search engine provides a wealth of detail about
books by breaking them down into many different literary
elements, all of which are searchable (click here). |
Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
Time/era of movie:
- 1980's-1999
Kids growing up/acting up?
Yes
Kids:
- general coming of age story
How much story is philosophy rather than plot?
- 3 (some)
Job/Profession/Poverty Story?
Yes
Strong "rags to riches" component?
Yes
Ethnic/Regional/Gender story?
Yes
Culture of surrounding area:
- British
Main Character
Ethnicity/Nationality
- British
How sensitive is this character?
- middling sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor?
- Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence
- Average intelligence
Physique
- average physique
Secondary Main Character
Ethnicity/Nationality
- British
Setting
United States
Yes
The US:
- Midwest
Europe
Yes
European country:
- England/UK
Asia/Pacific/Middle East
Yes
Asian country:
- Australia
Style
Movie makes you feel...
- thoughtful
Non-American film?
Yes
What language?
- English
Subtitles?
- No
Any profanity?
- None
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Note: the views expressed here are only those of the reviewer(s). | |
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