7 Up

"Give me the child until he is seven and I will give you the man," quoth the narrator of this wonderful documentary made for the BBC. In 1963, someone had the brilliant idea of gather together a group of seven year old children in England from all different backgrounds and ask them what they think about topics ranging from the other sex to school to politics to rich vs. poor to what-do-you-want-to-do-when-you-grow-up and everything in between. Seven year olds in Britain seem remarkably more self-assured than American children of the same age. Many of these kids seem to have a better plan for the future than I do, some of them were even talking about how the regularly read the British equivalent of The Wall Street Journal. The documentarian manages to elicit some unusually honest moments as we get into the mind of a child -- England's future. The interesting thing, however, is that often when listening to them talk about things, it's almost as if you're hearing the voice of the parent rather than the voice of the child. As some of the wealthier children discuss their future, you can almost sense the parent living vicariously through their well bred child; whereas the poorer children dream of becoming astronaut's and the like. It's both facinating and a little bit sad at the same time.