Agent of Happiness

Can happiness be measured by points? In a policy woefully simplified by Western media, Bhutan calculates its development by gross national happiness. Embarking on a censuslike enterprise, two government officers ask citizens if they are happy. The answer might be yes if a farmer’s cow has just given birth, or no if a family has been denied citizenship. In a journey that is as political as it is personal, people’s revelatory answers lay bare their relationship to Bhutan’s government, nation-state, and monarchy. With stunning cinematography, Agent of Happiness investigates the age-old quest to find the purpose of life—and to derive happiness from fulfilling that purpose.