Agent of Happiness 4 stars

One of the more unusual government functions I have heard of is the measurement of happiness. In Agent of Happiness the filmmakers follow a pair of government agents through the mountains and villages of Bhutan as they survey the population with a series of questions to find out the state of happiness of their citizens. Its purpose is to help guide the government in the future development of the country. The film focuses mainly on one agent named Amber who is about 40 years old and actually has his own story to tell. The survey asks questions about people’s possessions like refrigerators, TV’s and farm animals, but also how they rate their own happiness. Like any of us, the people have misfortunes they talk of like deaths in the family, abusive mates, alcoholism and even living as a transgender person. But they also reveal the hopes they have for the future. Amber’s own story is about caring for his aging mother and of a girl friend that he wishes he could marry. Unfortunately, Amber is not a Bhutanese citizen being of Nepalese descent, thus he cannot leave the country. And that is enough to deny him of his dream of a wife and settling down. Thus behind all the beauty of this land and the optimism lies the stories of pain and loss and how like people everywhere, they find a way to carry on.

Never Look Away                             4 stars

The documentary Never Look Away tells of the extraordinary life of CNN camerawoman Margaret Moth who spent 16 years going to war-torn countries to record the conflicts on film and bring the reality of war to our screens back home. The documentary is directed by first time director Lucy Lawless who is widely known from her TV character, Xena on the show Xena: Warrior Princess which she played for six seasons. Lawless, a native of New Zealand jumped at the chance to direct this film as Margaret Moth was a fellow New Zealander and Lawless was highly motivated to have this story told. Through interviews with old boy friends, colleagues at CNN and family members we learn how dedicated and fearless Moth was in entering such warzones as Bosnia-Herzegovina, Lebanon and various African conflicts. She believed it was critical that people should know just how terrible it is for the local people living in warzones. Footage from the conflicts is shared showing how perilous the locations were. For some especially significant locations 3 dimensional dioramas were created to the bring the impact of the events to life. The documentary is an impressive achievement for Lawless. She appeared at the theater for Q and A where she said the movie was finished just in time to make it to Sundance.