Short Term 12
Director: Destin Cretton. Cast: Brie Larson, John Gallagher Jr, Kaitlyn Dever, Rami Malek, Lakeith Stanfield, Kevin Hernandez. (96 minutes)
Drawn from the director’s own experience of working in a rehab home for teens in California, the movie centres around the young girl Grace and her boyfriend who are working there. Herself a victim of domestic abuse, Grace as a counselor can connect empathetically with the depressed and psychologically wounded youngsters, some of whom are suicidal and violent. Grace is confident and balanced in dealing with her own life as well and at one point gets engaged to be married to her longtime boyfriend and colleague Mason. Trouble starts when Marcus, a black boy at the doorstep of eighteen, is about to leave as per statutory requirement. Marcus is frightened of leaving because he has nowhere to go and they are afraid he may commit suicide. He expresses his deeply troubled past in a rap song that depicts a youth of parental neglect and abuse. The arrival of the new girl named Jayden makes matters worse for Grace. Jayden has a past similar to that of Grace. Hence she has a special interest in the withdrawn girl who refuses to mingle with the others, insisting that her father is coming to get her out. Grace gains access to Jayden’s heart when she discovers that they share an interest in pencil drawing. This activity helps the counselor get to the heart of Jayden’s problem. It also brings out Grace’s past before us. At one point Grace’s relationship is threatened when she is haunted by her past, provoked by the tragic situation of Jayden in which she is involved. She rescues Jayden from her father. Though Grace splits up with her fiancée, Mason’s patience wins her back. It is a celebration of the healing power of empathy and an affirmation of life in the midst of tragedy.The movie has useful lessons for youth workers and counselors.
Happy (Documentary)
Director: Roko Belic. Narrator: Marci Shimoff. (Runtime: 75 minutes)
The film takes a trip around the globe in search of the secret of happiness. We meet positive psychologists, sociologists and spiritual leaders who have insights into this issue. The movie was provoked by a remark by the Hollywood director Tom Shadyak that he did not find many of his wealthier neighbours happy and that in America, the wealthiest nation, only 25%of the people are really happy—and those are not the rich. It is a fascinating journey that delights and provokes thought. Happiness is not related to wealth and material comfort. Genetic factors matters for 50%. Intentional activity constitutes 40% and 10% by changing our circumstance. Physically active people are happier than idlers.
The most important lessons about happiness are not learned from the psychologists or even the spiritual leaders. It is from ordinary people as diverse as the pygmy tribes of African Sahara, to the World War II survivors of the Japanese island of Okinawa, the slum dwellers of Kolkata and the little hermit kingdom of Bhutan. In Kolkata they discover the rickshaw puller Manoj Singh and his neighbours, who do not even have a proper home to live in. But he is happy and contented among his extended family and neighbours. Japan offers a world of contrast. In the big cites people live their lives bound to the clock work routines and have little time for family or relaxation. They are “literally working themselves to death.” On the island of Okinawa, instead, razed to the ground during World War II, life expectancy and happiness are at the highest. Their community bondings are firm to such an extent that they keep the ashes of their dead in a common coffin! Children grow up well cared for and loved because the whole community looks after them. A small village in Denmark has a community kitchen and shared spaces where children say that they have forty or fifty grandparents and seventy brothers and sisters. Bhutan is unique among nations in having a “gross happiness policy” at national level. Among the unhappy people are religious fanatics spewing hate.
The picture that emerges is that happiness depends on strong nurturing relationships. Highly individualistic communities tend to be less happy in spite of better living conditions. One case: Ambitious American Banker, Andy Wimmer, found happiness at Mother Theresa’s home in Kolkata as a volunteer servant among the destitute.
Dr Gigy Joseph
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