56 Up (2012)

56 Up: Directed by Michael Apted, Paul Almond. With Michael Apted, Bruce Balden, Jacqueline Bassett, Symon Basterfield. Director Michael Apted revisits the same group of British-born adults after a 7 year wait. The subjects are interviewed as to the changes that have occurred in their lives during the last seven years.

“The Up Series (1963 – 2012 Granada UK) continues u0026quot;56 Upu0026quot; (2012 Granada UK) is the latest episode in the series and was aired in the UK on May 14, 2012. u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eHome video DVDu0026#39;s are not yet available for u0026quot;56 Upu0026quot; (2012 Granada 2012) from Amazon.Com. It seems there is a delay from the time the newest episode is first aired/ released in the UK and when the USA sees and may purchase it.)u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eFor me, the two most remarkable and worthy persons profiled are Neil Hughes and Bruce Balden, neither married or materially u0026quot;successfulu0026quot; by the 1991 u0026quot;35 Upu0026quot; episode, both badgered about that on camera by the off camera interviewer, both stoic and dignified in the face of the negative evaluation the interviewer provides.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eNeither man, Hughes or Balden, led conventional, predictable, profitable, u0026quot;safeu0026quot; lives. Both opted for exploration, adventure, and service to and comradeship with socially unprestigious groups and persons.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eBoth took enormous chances, and must be accounted brave, noble men for that alone. They didnu0026#39;t u0026quot;play it safe.u0026quot; Both exude an intelligence and a willingness to discuss difficult questions and issues in detail on camera, and neither attack the show they appear on, the thoughtless, implicitly insulting interviewer, or the showu0026#39;s and intervieweru0026#39;s obvious prejudices and agenda for the show itself as a piece of social and political propaganda.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eBalden and Hughes use the riveting show as a platform to describe their own lives, ideals, and activities in pursuit of those ideals, activities not supported by outside big money or generous support from family, government, or other sources.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eWe learn more about the world at the times the episodes are presented (every 7 years starting in 1963…..the most recent one in 2004) from observing and listening to the words and ideas of Bruce Balden and Neil Hughes by far than is true of the other children and adults presented, none of whom departed from the settings where they first appeared at age 7 in 1963.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eNeil Hughes and his u0026quot;marching to the beat of the different drummeru0026quot; (quote from Americn Utopian writer Henry David Thoreau) seems to me the most impressive of all. u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eHeu0026#39;s become the intrepid explorer he announced heu0026#39;d be at age 7 when he expressed interest in being an Astronaut or a bus driver….two flavors of explorers. u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eIu0026#39;m reminded of the words of poet T. S. Eliot (1888 USA – 1965 UK), the USA born poet who settled in England and got the Nobel Prize in 1948. u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eHe wrote a poem titled East Coker, and words from it include the following: u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003e————– u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eu0026quot;To arrive where you are, to get from where you are not, You must go by a way wherein there is no ecstasy. u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eIn order to arrive at what you do not know You must go by a way which is the way of ignorance. u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eIn order to possess what you do not possess You must go by the way of dispossession. u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eIn order to arrive at what you are not You must go through the way in which you are not. u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eAnd what you do not know is the only thing you know u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eAnd what you own is what you do not own u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eAnd where you are is where you are not. u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003e———————- u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eu0026quot;Home is where one starts from. As we grow older The world becomes stranger, the pattern more complicated ———— u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eu0026quot;Old men ought to be explorers……..u0026quot; u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003e————————– u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eEverybody should be an explorer, not just old men. u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eNeil Hughes purposed to be an explorer at age 7, started early, still does it. He could be the star of a long run reality TV Show titled u0026quot;King Of The Roadu0026quot; using the famous Roger Miller hit song of that title from the 1960u0026#39;s, and his views about dealing with and surviving in spite of unsupportive, unintelligent government and present social organization and conventions in the UK, the USA, Australia, and elsewhere could be solicited and published, his lifestyle and behavior widely (and proudly) imitated.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThis may all seem far-fetched (see the Academy Award Winner movie titled Network [1976] to see how big media could set this up….no joke!), but the fact is Neil Hughes has probably learned more about the realities of survival and the likely challenges and problems upcoming which must be survived successfully than most people. u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003ePeople wonu0026#39;t get the truth about big issues they face from the government, big religion, or the conventional commercial mass media, nor will big establishment educational systems either provide answers nor seek them.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eNeil Hughes knows what others need to know, and is clearly independent enough to share what he knows, able to survive being despised for his independent and necessarily implicitly critical views.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eItu0026#39;s an interesting show, and less spectacular careers and worlds of the children/ adults who traveled different, more predictable and conventional paths than Bruce Balden and Neil Hughes are worth noting and following.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe Up Series (1963 – 2012) is a happy accident, the truth provided by the commercial mass media in ways almost never experienced. u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eBTW, see the excellent interview with director/ producer Michael Apted (1941 UK – ) done by USA Movie Critic of fame Roger Ebert in the u0026quot;Special Featuresu0026quot; section of u0026quot;49 Up [2005).u0026quot; Ebert praises the show to the skies. u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003e—————– u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eWritten by Tex Allen, SAG-AFTRA movie actor, Columbia PA USA u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eEmail Tex Allen at [email protected]/u003eu003cbr/u003eSee Tes Allen Movie Credits, Biography, and 2012 photos at WWW.IMDb.Me/TexAllen. See other Tex Allen written movie reviews….almost 100 titles…. at: u0026quot;http://imdb.com/user/ur15279309/commentsu0026quot; (paste this address into your URL Browser)”