Happy,
a documentary directed by Roko Belic. Library
Call Number: BF575,.GH27H37 2012.
Excepted from the
website Paste:
Signs of life in music, film and culture: Inspired
by a New York Times article [that] director Tom Shadyac shared with
Belic [ranking] countries by the happiness of their citizens…despite the fact
that America is one of the richest countries in the world, it’s nowhere near
the happiest.”… Shadyac was so compelled by the contradictory correlation
between material wealth and happiness, he funded the majority of Belic’s film
out of pocket.
After traveling [through
many nations of the world, what] Belic and his crew discovered was astonishing.
He spent a few weeks in the slums of Kolkata, India with positive psychologist
Robert Biswas-Diener (“the Indiana Jones of happiness research”) and “the
poorest of the poor,” and found a community whose dependence on one another
transcended their poverty. “Despite the fact that they live in little huts made
of bamboo sticks covered in plastic tarps and plastic bags; despite the fact
that there’s open sewage running in front of where they sleep; despite the fact
that they have no income for medical care or schooling or for anything in
excess of subsistence living, they’re as happy as the average American,” Belic
says. “What I saw in the slum that I see missing in many American neighborhoods
is a real, genuine sense of camaraderie and a bond among the people who live
there.” Winner of eight documentary awards.
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