Life in a Day

Do you remember what you did on July 24^th 2010? No? Well thanks to Life in a Day you can relive it through the eyes of people from all over the world. Life in a Day was created using the phenomenon of crowd sourcing. The producers asked people via YouTube to record themselves on 24/07/10 and received 4,500 hours of footage in 80,000 submissions from 192 nations. The 4,500 hours was then edited into a 95 minute film which represents almost the entire globe on that July day. 

A 15 year old has his first shave with help from his dad 

It is a genius idea which has spawned an interesting, funny and at times emotional film. Beginning in the early morning the film shows people from all over the world going about their day from getting up, brushing their teeth, going to school or work, having lunch and so on. Occasionally one person’s story is followed and we revisit some of the more interesting characters including my personal favourite, a Korean man who has spent nine years and thirty-two days cycling through 190 countries with the aim of uniting North and South Korea. Along with his, there are several other stories which would make an interesting feature film on their own.

I can count the number of films I’ve cried during on one hand but Life in a Day filled my eyes with tears twice; once during a surprise marriage proposal and again after a woman finished talking to her husband, a US soldier based in Afghanistan, on Skype. Many of the people we meet live sad lives but the vast majority are happy. We meet a man living in a graveyard with fourteen children who is happy to be alive. A young boy working as a shoe-shine is happy that his father provides him with fruit. These and other stories give the film a generally uplifting feel.

A man 'comes out' to his Grandmother

One of the greatest things about the film is that it shows us how similar we are to one another. Our lives, routines and customs are mostly the same whether we are from Kentucky, Kathmandu or Kabul. We all brush our teeth, we meet friends and family, we work, we laugh, we cry, we are born and we die. The film manages to show such diverse human life while at the same time bringing us together and allowing us to recognise our similarities as well as celebrate our differences.

9/10

The entire film is available for free on YouTube here.