I've seen one or the other instalment of the series on film sites over and over again, and I kept putting off watching it. It was hard to imagine how this could be really interesting. But I was rather wrong. It was a fascinating watch. I'm sure it would've been very different to see it in "real time", watching it as one is getting older along with the participants. But it was also great to watch it all in one go.
The series has several flaws, but they are all understandable. It was an idea that was being developed on the go. The biggest problem with it is the extensive amount of repeats from previous episodes, but then again, in their own time that was probably absolutely necessary, since the average viewer would've seen them with several years between them, without any chance of rewatching the previous ones. And of course the selection of participants could've been a lot more diverse, but it wasn't originally planned to be what it eventually became, so probably not a whole lot of thought was given to the selection.
However with all the flaws it's still a glorious, unique, very engaging programme. One quickly becomes attached to the participants, and feels interested in their lives, even if most of them led very ordinary ones. Or maybe exactly because of that. Each episode is very thought provoking, and makes the viewers want to have conversations about a number of subjects. The filmmakers don't really draw any conclusions, offer a lot of wisdom or anything like that, just show glimpses of a few random people's lives, forcing us to look at ours.
All along it felt like a privilege to watch these handful of children grow into adults and eventually reaching retirement age. When watched in the space of a full days, it felt like time travelling. It felt special. I for one felt very grateful for the filmmakers, and especially the participants who stuck with the project even though they did not like it at all, and in some occasions it was incredibly disruptive or inconvenient for their lives.
The series has several flaws, but they are all understandable. It was an idea that was being developed on the go. The biggest problem with it is the extensive amount of repeats from previous episodes, but then again, in their own time that was probably absolutely necessary, since the average viewer would've seen them with several years between them, without any chance of rewatching the previous ones. And of course the selection of participants could've been a lot more diverse, but it wasn't originally planned to be what it eventually became, so probably not a whole lot of thought was given to the selection.
However with all the flaws it's still a glorious, unique, very engaging programme. One quickly becomes attached to the participants, and feels interested in their lives, even if most of them led very ordinary ones. Or maybe exactly because of that. Each episode is very thought provoking, and makes the viewers want to have conversations about a number of subjects. The filmmakers don't really draw any conclusions, offer a lot of wisdom or anything like that, just show glimpses of a few random people's lives, forcing us to look at ours.
All along it felt like a privilege to watch these handful of children grow into adults and eventually reaching retirement age. When watched in the space of a full days, it felt like time travelling. It felt special. I for one felt very grateful for the filmmakers, and especially the participants who stuck with the project even though they did not like it at all, and in some occasions it was incredibly disruptive or inconvenient for their lives.