'Mission: Joy – Finding Happiness in Troubled Times' review: The Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu discuss the power of joy in Louie Psihoyos and Peggy Callahan’s prosaic documentary
and co-director Peggy Callahan’s nonfiction portrait of their relationship and shared ethos about the importance of positivity in individual, familial and communal life. Premiering at the Tribeca Film Festival, it’s an uplifting look at two revolutionary forces for good, although its appeal will largely depend on viewers’ tolerance for familiar history lessons and generic views on contentment, anger and forgiveness.
Inspired by its subjects’ prior bestseller “The Book of Joy,” “Mission: Joy” revolves around a sit-down between Tutu and the Dalai Lama, during which their coauthor Doug Abrams questions them about their philosophies regarding the concept of joy.
These are all bedrock truths that few would dispute, and yet the broadness with which Tutu and the Dalai Lama discuss them — devoid of any mention of present-day global turmoil — has the effect of making them sound like platitudes. Fortunately, their natural, laughter-filled dynamic keeps things lively.
Interspersed throughout the pair’s interview are brief recaps of their backstories. Archival footage, as well as commentary from van Furth and the Dalai Lama’s translator Thupten Jinpa Langri, tell the tales of the Dalai Lama’s upbringing as the chosen one and exile from his native Tibet courtesy of communist China, and of Tutu’s transformation from a teacher to a man of the cloth who helped lead the charge against South African apartheid.
From an aesthetic standpoint, “Mission: Joy” is about as straightforward as they come; only a few beautifully animated sequences energize the proficient, pedestrian action. The selling point of the entire affair is learning about, and basking in, the affection shared by Tutu and the Dalai Lama, and Psihoyos and Callahan don’t skimp in that regard, their film constantly reveling in the duo’s mutual respect and admiration for each other.
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