A very unique and very powerful real-life look of what 14 exuberant seven year-old documentary participants in England were able to make of their subsequent 50 years of life, and what 50 years of life made of them, as revealed by filmed interviews every seven years. The period edited life progressions were potent indeed. Different ages will view and relate to the realities of these lives differently. The life paths and choices of several of the participants could serve as stark examples for younger viewers, but probably won't. Several funny comments/moments, but the overall tone was somber. British accents were strong and made difficult to understand all that was being spoken, to the point that subtitles would have been welcome. I applaud the documentary concept and the ability and willingness to commit to such a long-term follow-up, and I applaud the sincere candor, humanity and courage of the participants.

This British documentary has been chronicling the lives of the same people for decades and now most are 56 and up. Life has been kind to a few of them, but mostly these are real people who had dreams once upon a time and now that they have many life experiences are able to share some of the hardness of life. A couple of them are remarkably candid, including a man who never got married, was homeless for a long period of time, and is now a liberal politician in England. There's another woman who has 3 kids, one of them just had a baby at 19 and the other two help her meet subsistence living by supplementing her government pension. It also focuses on a couple of lawyers, a nuclear scientist, and some teachers. There's plenty to learn from these subjects and the filmmaker does an amazing job of weaving snippets from interviews past to compile a stark picture of each one. I would recommend it to anyone interested in reflecting on life and learning from the experiences of others.