Over half a century ago, a BBC film team was tasked with interviewing a group of seven-year-olds. The documentary seemed hellbent on proving socioeconomic determinism—the notion that your class status at birth shapes your fate for the rest of your life. While that may or may not be true, we are fortunate that director Apted went on to return to the same children seven years later—and then kept repeating the pattern, every seven years for decades. The series runs all the way to 56 Up, and the stories of how the kids actually turned out is fascinating. As time goes on, the arrogance of the original conceit—as well as the intrusive nature of the repeated filming—also become central issues.