The Pursuit of Happiness

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walter m "And the Pursuit of Happiness" is a documentary from Louis Malle wherein he travels the United States from Florida to Nebraska to California to explore the issue of immigration. Along the way, he talks to people from a wide variety of walks of life from day laborers to a dictator who have come to the United States for many different reasons.(And it is cool that Malle had the foresight to talk to somebody like Franklin Chang Diaz, a space shuttle astronaut, who would one day have his own wikipedia page.) But with the exception of those from Cambodia, Vietnam, Soviet Union, Cuba and El Salvador being refugees at the tail end of the Cold War, this is pretty basic stuff, especially taking into account the lack of personal perspective from Malle, himself a relative newcomer to the United States. Rated 3/5 Stars •  Rated 3 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Audience Member A counterpoint to 'God's Country', '...And the Pursuit of Happiness' follows the lives of new Americans attempting integration into their new country. Malle, as always, is a master of empathy. Brilliant, warm, and heartbreaking in equal measure. Rated 4.5/5 Stars •  Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 02/03/23 Full Review Audience Member Can immigrants achieve the material well-being and individual freedom the American Dream promises in exchange for hard work? Malle finds the answer is mostly affirmative, without ever being idealistic, though the path is not the same for all. Those foreigners most enterprising and skilled are proud to call the U.S. home, thankful for the realized opportunity to make their own success. Most start at the bottom, but eventually succeed academically or build companies and prosper, passing the acquired social capital on to their mostly-Americanized children. Others drift across the border fleeing poverty and lack of work, succumbing to hard physical labor and squalid living conditions for a menial improvement in wage. Nevertheless, America draws these people from all walks because the incentive is the same: it provides a better life, though it appears to do so to varying degrees. The film only briefly touches on the problem of multicultural policy (black residents of a housing complex are put off by the influx of Vietnamese immigrants and the pungent aroma of their cuisine), but at least portrays the "melting pot" as somewhat of a myth. American-born kindergarteners of immigrants are taught their parents' native tongue, and everywhere people seem to maintain the culture of their homeland, be it Cubans celebrating in the streets of Miami, Muslims praying at a mosque in Texas, or the Hindu temple in one family's suburban kitchen. Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 02/22/23 Full Review Audience Member Surprisingly excellent Louis Malle doc that is a kind of survey of various immigrants to the US. Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 02/08/23 Full Review Audience Member watching the movie made me realise how special i'am with my responsibilty.Its amazing and heartbreaking watching the movie.I'm grateful for every circumstances i face with my kids knowing that life ain't that easy....we struggle to survive the situation. Rated 4.5/5 Stars •  Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 02/22/23 Full Review Audience Member the movie is good got to love it cause it just makes you want to cry. Rated 4.5/5 Stars •  Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 01/27/23 Full Review Read all reviews

The Pursuit of Happiness

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