With a cheer, Bhutan welcomed the introduction of television and the internet, as announced by King Jigme Wangchuck in 1999. It was the first applause he had received, he noted, but such a reaction did not pave the way for a full-scale lifestyle revolution. Over a decade later in villages such as Laya, such modern conveniences remain a novelty for a populace living in shacks on desolate mountains, tied to their tradition and patch of land, and largely struggling to get by. And yet, the arrival of technology is also a source of surprising pleasure in a culture of sparseness, modesty and religion.
Despite its moniker, Happiness is not a how-to guide or a compilation of definitive answers on its titular topic; instead, what the observational documentary offers is a study in and inspired by simplicity and contrasts. Its true subject is Peyangki, an eight-year-old boy typifying the dutiful but torn next generation still searching for that elusive state even given his tender years. When told by his mother that he must train to become a monk to decrease her financial burden after his father’s death, he complies without complaint, trying to find contentment in his new routine yet pining for his family and for entertainment.
Without commentary or textual context, the fly-on-the-wall effort is unadorned and all the most powerful for its easy authenticity. Though some of its scenes feel rehearsed, Thomas Balmès’ (Babies) film bears no stylistic affectations as it shows Peyangki’s plight between two extremes. The dichotomy verges on falsity in that, again, having access to a TV set happens in the most basic fashion imaginable, but the division between days at the monastery and time spent outside is plain. Praying, cleaning, and dreaming of a different future marks the former; soaking up the company of others and the joy of watching seethes through the latter.
There may be an obvious juxtaposition in the two modes of living, even as both remain as meagre as possible; however there is no overt statement in a feature that allows reality to do the talking. The irony is clear; for many in the Western world, scaling back, disconnecting, devoting time to presence of mind and other such ways of thinking is seen as the answer to trying to attain enlightenment, but Peyangki just wants to lose himself the comfort of his kin and in the silliness of watching staged wrestling bouts.
Winner of the cinematography award for world cinema – documentary at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival, a feat recognising Balmès’ and colleague Nina Bernfeld’s majestic imagery, Happiness shoots its wide expanses and humble details with warmth and clarity. Whether showing Peyangki careening down to his former home as a small figure among a considerable vista of rock, or displaying the repetition that comes with cleaning silverware in intimate mid shots, or the capturing the glow of a screen projected on its viewers, every frame writhes with texture and care.
Though it meanders through its brief running time, the film movingly, meditatively comes to a quiet conclusion that can only show a slice of and can never resolve Peyangki’s predicament, but one that lingers nonetheless. Immersed in the hustle and bustle of a concrete jungle, or roaming free on the Himalayas, the struggle remains the same: the grass is always greener in a chase that can only end in the knowledge that happiness, when it comes in the small moments, is fleeting.
Rating: 3 ½ out of 5 stars
Happiness
Director: Thomas Balmès
Finland / France, 2013, 80 mins
Revelation Perth International Film Festival
www.revelationfilmfest.org
3 – 13 July
Melbourne International Film Festival
www.miff.com.au
31 July – 17 August
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