49Up

I ran across a fascinating documentary last night on Hulu called 49 Up. It follows the lives of a group of British children from ages seven through forty-nine, beginning back in 1964, with updates having been filmed every seven years. It doesn't "explain" itself very much, except to say that it was meant to give a "glimpse of Britain's future." 

The individual children in the project seem to be a cross section in terms of economic and social backgrounds, and their adult lives have turned out to be just as diverse. Most of the film, which was last updated in 2006 whent he individuals were 49, concerns their present lives, with frequent flashbacks to ages 7, 14, 21 , 28, 35, and 42.  I thought it was interesting that only one of the subjects (out of about a dozen) dropped out of the project, and refused to be interviewed again after age 21.

The first two thirds of the film seemed rather bleak to me. Quite a few divorces, some children born out of wedlock, career diappointments, etc. The theme of surviving economically comes up frequently in the film, but the pathos is that all of them seem to be looking for more than that. For many, that search has been satisfied in relationships - family, grandchildren, etc. Only near the end of the film do a few of the people seem to have lived lives that our %#*! worldview crowd might consider "redemptive" in any sort of way...through charities, voluntary service, political service, etc.;  one even conducts home Bible studies.

I was struck by how little most were willing to settle for, in life. The majority seem resigned to the fact that there may not be a transcendent purpose. It would be very difficult for me to relate to the lifestyles and thinking of most of them.  For the most part, by 2006, the majority might be described as "postmodern" in philosophy:  the universe is governed by random chance, and we define ourselves subjectively through what we make of the experiences we have along the way.  

Eccelsiastes 1:2-4 came to mind:

  ² “Meaningless! Meaningless!”
   says the Teacher.
“Utterly meaningless!
   Everything is meaningless.”
 ³ What do people gain from all their labors
   at which they toil under the sun?
⁴ Generations come and generations go,
   but the earth remains forever.

I wanted so much to embrace some of them and tell them how the story concludes, in Eccesiastes 12:13...

¹³ Now all has been heard;
   here is the conclusion of the matter:
Fear God and keep his commandments,
   for this is the duty of all mankind.

Of course, this is not the whole story, in the gospel sense. But since "fear of God is the beginning of knowledge" (Proverbs 1:7), I believe that Godly fear alone would inevitably lead one to the gospel. But the sense of "something outside oneself, of any authority or significance" seems hard to find in the world today.

God forbid that those who claim to know the truth should not stand out and look different from those living "lives of quiet desperation" (Thoreau).

Thanks to the filmmakers for holding up such a faithful mirror to the age in which I have lived.