Happy

2012
7.2| 1h15m| NR| en
Details

Happy is a 2011 feature documentary film directed, written, and co-produced by Roko Belic. It explores human happiness through interviews with people from all walks of life in 14 different countries, weaving in the newest findings of positive psychology. Director Roko Belic was originally inspired to create the film after producer/director Tom Shadyac (Liar, Liar, Patch Adams, Bruce Almighty) showed him an article in the New York Times entitled "A New Measure of Well Being From a Happy Little Kingdom". The article ranks the United States as the 23rd happiest country in the world. Shadyac then suggested that Belic make a documentary about happiness. Belic spent several years interviewing over 20 people, ranging from leading happiness researchers to a rickshaw driver in Kolkatta, a family living in a "co-housing community" in Denmark, a woman who was run over by a truck, a Cajun fisherman, and more.

Director

Producted By

Wadi Rum Films

AD
AD

Watch Free for 30 Days

Stream on any device, 30-day free trial Watch Now

Trailers & Clips

Reviews

ThiefHott Too much of everything
Wordiezett So much average
Hayden Kane There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes
Arianna Moses Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.
cosmicaug Generally good but I have to remove some stars for a couple of reasons (were it not for these, it might have deserved around 9 stars —though I wonder if I am being too generous at that).The first reason is the way it, effectively, holds up the nation of Bhutan as an example for the rest of the world to follow. While they do tangentially touch on things which might be seen to hint at a possible authoritarian streak in this parliamentary monarchy when they mention legally enforced manner of dress, language and architecture (presumably treating their citizens like school children who must be required to wear uniforms "for their own good"), they never follow through on them. In any case, letting anyone brag, unchallenged, about how this nation handles its social systems is simply inappropriate. This is a nation whose policies make Donald Trump seem like a flower child. This is a nation which ethnic cleansed itself of roughly one sixth of its population in the 1990s. I wonder if these expelled ethnic Lhotshampa count toward Bhutan's Gross National Happiness? When, to make a positive example of this nation, this documentary claims that this nation's government tasks itself with asking what it is that makes its people happy, we must wonder if ethnic cleansing (and enforced conformity) is meant to be part of the answer.While this does not mean that there can't be any positives in the politics of this country, it is not acceptable to sweep some very serious shortcomings under the rug (which no one would know about from watching this documentary).The second reason I must subtract some stars is their treatment of Mother Teresa's Kalighat Home for the Dying. While I have no reason to doubt anything relating to state of mind of the volunteer they talked to, one cannot ignore the fact that it is happening in a setting known for widely reported issues of willful negligence in the care of their patients (if not, at times, outright abuse). It is a setting created around a dogma, which was held by Mother Teresa, of suffering as virtue. It is not so much that suffering is seen as an inevitable state but that it is seen as a desirable one. Ignoring this context, promotes a faulty, popular mythology of Mother Teresa. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticism_of_Mother_TeresaSee criticisms by Aroup Chatterjee, Christopher Hitchens and Susan Shields.
Kenyae Kofi Great movie. When I watched this movie it made me feel that happiness is obtainable. Through religion, and doing the right thing. I believe this movie taught a very valuable lesson as in if you do good things, it can make you feel good. People think scientific facts would matter but science doesn't define emotions. Some things are unexplainable in life for a reason. I think this is great, and enjoyable to watch. I have seen this movie multiple times when I was upset and it always brought me out of my funk and helped me feel positive again. I showed this movie to many members of my family and it made them not only get emotional, but they felt this was a great guide to become a happy person.
Kiernan Holland Its got zero proof, it offers no scientific data, it leaves out "sex", in fact it implies sex but won't go there.. It tries to claim that happiness from taking care of people can equate to a drug like cocaine, which is a load of crap, if that were true people would find it easy to get off drugs.. The truth of the matter is that once you do an addictive drug you have a tingling feeling, sort of like an itch, that never goes away, and once you've done the drug a lot, it shuts down your ability to experience pleasure.. Now for someone who is addicted, if dopamine response is diminished due to long-term drug use, the dopamine response to the drug makes you feel "normal" whereas not having the drug makes you feel "depressed", in that case I would say that doing any activity equates to the happiness in a "addicted" drug addict doing something like cocaine. But the movie only plays chicken with the idea, it doesn't really have any proof. It could be regarded as a Buddhist conversion tape because it doesn't cover any other religions, in fact it implies that those who practice Muslim, Jewish and Christian faiths "are less happy".. Normally I like liberal documentaries, but this one leaves you thinking "that was nice, oh wait, I just got rick rolled"..
Timothy Spear Tom Shadyac, the director of the Nutty Professor read in a NY times article that although the US was one of the richest countries it was nowhere near the happiest and also noted from his own experience materially successful people he knew were often less happy than their gardeners. Intrigued he funded director Roko Belic to make this movie investigating what makes people happy. He goes to Denmark, Namibia, Scotland, China, Kenya, Brazil, Japan, Bhutan and India and interviews a bunch of people and the result is quite an interesting movie on how things play out. They start with a guy in India living in poverty in one of the worse slums but he's about as happy as the average American partly because there is a lot of community involvement. In Japan he meets the Okinawa islanders who generally have a cheery simple life and live to about 100 and also the family of a pressured salary man who dropped dead in his thirties from stress and overwork. It's interesting to see the contrasts and it may well give some inspiration for your own life.