Monday, November 6, 2006

49Up and 20 Mule Team Borat


Quote of the day:
“Fear of drama is never cause to indulge oversensitive people--you gain nothing and the drama goes on unabated. I realize showing regard for others includes not trampling on
known sensitivities. But when someone has nothing but sensitivities, tiptoeing around them not only puts irrational restrictions on everyone else, but also validates that person’s every snit, fit and hissy.”
--Carolyn Hax in today’s "Washington Post," fresh back from vacation and in top form

Follow-up to "YouTube, MeTube, WeAllTube":
“Many people visit YouTube to watch blurry clips of unknown idiots making fools of themselves.”
--Allan Hoffman, Newhouse News Service

The new movie comedy "Borat" was the most-attended film over the weekend. I haven’t seen it, but it’s gotten gobs of press attention. I don’t know if the success of this movie will continue, but it’s not hard to imagine folks being in the mood for comedy more than anything else right now.

Having said that, I’d like to heartily recommend a film that is very different and authentically dramatic. Michael Apted’s "49Up" is the latest part of a documentary series tracking the lives of several Britons. The series began with a TV special made when all the subjects were seven years old, and Apted has made a new film every seven years since.

This is a singular and exceptional effort. Imagine watching film of yourself or members of your family answering the same questions every seven years. (Imagine if your home videos were that disciplined!)

We all have memories of what we were like in our past--but seeing it on film is an entirely different kettle of fish. One of the refrains of the film is the subjects saying they don’t recognize those earlier films of themselves, and sometimes they don’t agree with what they so fervently said years ago.

As I watched this film I began to realize it was a sort-of living cultural history of the last 49 years. I also found myself relating to many of the choices and mistakes these people had made, and what they had to deal with as consequences.

The film is a great lesson in the coming of wisdom from experience more than education or accident of birth. Most compelling, though, was watching growth and maturation happen right in front of me. The travels through hope, disappointment, joy, pain and contentment come together in an extraordinarily real portrait of life.

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