Happy

           For my documentary review I watched a really inspiring, interesting documentary called Happy, directed by Roko Belic. The documentary talks about happiness. It delves into what we consider the definition of happiness, and talks to people all over the world, both people who are happy and those who are unhappy. The film starts off with talking to a man who lives in India. He is a rickshaw driver, meaning he carries people around in cart all day through India. This is his house:

      Although people are rude to him everyday and he caries them around in a cart and lives in a hut made of tarps and ply wood, he says he is the happiest man in the world. The film then steps back and talks to psychologists about what "happy" is. This is the general format as it goes back and forth between psychological explanations and personal stories.
        The documentary includes the three aspects of film: literary, dramatic, and cinematic aspects. The literary aspects include themes and mood. The theme of the film is happiness, and what it takes to achieve happiness. The film develops a sympathetic, kind of sad yet happy mood when it tells the story of a woman who in her youth was considered one of the most beautiful women in the state she lived in. But, when she was in her twenties, she got run over by a truck, which crushed her face. She has had over thirty surgeries, and her face still looks like this:

            However, she says she is much happier than she was before the accident. The film does include a bit of dramatic aspects because there is reenactment of her accident. It more includes cinematic aspects such as unique camera angles. There is a good example of interesting cinematic effect when the documentary focuses on an island off the coast of Japan where the most old people live in one place. A large amount of their population is over 100 years old. The film makers explore the happiness between the 100 year-olds and the young children, by putting the camera from their point of view.
            I really enjoyed this film and would highly recommend it to anyone who has an hour to spend watching a truly interesting movie. I watched it on Netflix Instant Watch. It was made in 2011. Here is a link to the website for the movie Happy.

Happy. 75 minutes. Not Rated.