Agent of Happiness

Is it possible to measure the quality of life? The king of Bhutan thinks so, and in 2008 he started the Gross National Happiness Survey. The Bhutan government now has a few dozen trained survey interviewers who ask citizens to complete a questionnaire to reveal how happy they are.

Amber Kumar Gurung is one of the interviewers. He travels around this mountainous country to go through the questionnaire with all sorts of people. Filmmakers Arun Bhattarai and Dorottya Zurbó accompany him and capture impressions of his encounters along the way.

The survey doesn’t always uncover the whole truth, as becomes clear when a domineering husband thinks he can decide for his three wives what it is that makes them happy. In cases like this, the directors start putting their own questions to the interviewee.

In separate conversations, Bhutanese people, including Kumar Gurung himself, speak candidly about issues they face and how they cope. Then, with great compassion, Agent of Happiness captures the small moments in life that bring them happiness. “We have only one life to live,” says one of the interviewees, “so why waste it on being sad?”