19/40
Amber, a happiness agent, travels the Bhutanese Himalayas, studying human happiness. On his remote mountain journey, he seeks fulfillment. I’m not sure if it should be called “Agent of Happiness”; instead? Not satisfied as if it’s barely enough, but as if he’s truly satisfied with the part of his life that he’s living. That’s what Amber tries to find out by traveling through this small Himalayan kingdom every two years, trying to find out how its people feel about things. Using a combination of tools, he chats with old and young, urban and rural, traditional and more modern, to find out how the people feel and bring it to a government that wants to listen and learn about those attitudes. to help keep people in a good place – mentally and physically. This documentary introduces us to a range of people whose aspirations vary greatly – sometimes based on age, ability, location, education/professional qualifications, but mostly you get a sense of how they appreciate their surroundings. While the West might consider their livelihoods more basic, more agrarian, more undeveloped; their own perception of their existence high in the mountains with beautiful scenery, fresh air, and the blessings of their gods seems to offer that elusive sense of less being more and fulfillment. Obviously not everyone is insanely happy, but there is a distinct lack of "fake" about change, as a reverence for the king and the status quo seems to permeate the entire demographic, screaming that it ain’t broke, so don’t fix it. There are quite a few characters here, some more entertaining and some downright unusual, and Amber sometimes has to struggle to get meaningful answers to her questions so she can extrapolate the data usefully. In a society that hasn’t really evolved technologically, it still seems like everyone has access to the internet, and there’s a proud tradition of educating everyone so they can make decisions, and yet they still feel that magic word. Happy. It seems that keeping cows helps too!
