Agent of Happiness

AroView: This is a documentary that will not only put a smile on your face, but will restore your faith in humanity and the comforting fact that all human beings are never fully satisfied.

After “The Monk and the Gun”, it’s the second film from the tiny country of Bhutan that is touted as the happiest in the world (93.6%!), presided over by a King to whom national happiness matters.

Amber Kumar Gurung is an agent of the Gross National Happiness survey, and it’s his story of heartbreaking irony that is as much the focus of this film as the stories of the many beautiful characters he surveys. Disadvantaged by his Nepalese decent, he seemingly well deserves to gain the Bhutanese citizenship that has long been denied him, but on account of this film has to settle for being an adorable unofficial mascot.

“Agent of Happiness presents a nuanced, thoughtful examination of Bhutan’s pursuit of quantifying well-being… Directed with minimal intrusion, the film allows complexity and contradiction to emerge organically from its characters, mirroring life’s rich intricacies that no single metric can fully capture.” ~Naser Nahandian, Gazettely