NILS VON KALM watches the documentary ‘Mission: Joy’…
Mission: Joy – Finding Happiness in Troubled Times
In a Word: Uplifting
Desmond Tutu and the Dalai Lama in ‘Mission: Joy”. PICTURE: Tenzin Choejor.
If you want to watch something that is beautifully uplifting, which will make you smile from a deep place as well as bring tears of joy to your eyes, then don’t go past the wonderful documentary, Mission: Joy – Finding Happiness in Troubled Times, an expose of the simply beautiful friendship between Desmond Tutu and the Dalai Lama.
Produced in 2021, the film is directed by the Academy Award-winning Louie Psihoyos, along with Peggy Callahan, and is inspired by the New York Times bestseller, The Book of Joy: Lasting Happiness in a Changing World.
“Both [the Dalai Lama and Desmond Tutu] express their strong convictions about non-violence, but it is their convictions about the power of love and compassion, and the joy that that produces, that stands out in this documentary.”
When the film first describes these two exemplary human beings as people who couldn’t be more different, I disagreed. But when their backgrounds were compared, their differences were easy to see, and it made their friendship all the more joyful to ponder. As the makers of the documentary say, “they are opposites in many ways, yet their friendship shows us that our shared humanity is bigger than our differences”.
Though they have both experienced enormous suffering in their lives, their differences are most stark when considering their backgrounds. The Dalai Lama grew up in a palace in riches, while Tutu grew up in a poor township in apartheid South Africa. Despite this though, it is clear from the film that it was their suffering that played a huge part in shaping them into the spiritual giants they became.
The Dalai Lama has gone through – and still goes through – the humiliation of seeing his beloved homeland of Tibet occupied by China and suffering horrendous human rights abuses. Tutu, of course, is known globally for his courageous struggle against the inhumanity of apartheid in his beloved South Africa, and since then, his equally courageous work of convincing his people of the need for forgiveness of the perpetrators of the atrocities against black South Africans.
Both people express their strong convictions about non-violence, but it is their convictions about the power of love and compassion, and the joy that that produces, that stands out in this documentary.
They both explain with strong conviction that to be fully human is to give to others. It is when we give to others, love others, and express compassion to others, that we experience joy. As Tutu says, joy is the reward of seeking to give joy to others. And these two have expressed their joy in spades.
The Dalai Lama makes the point himself that joy comes from inside. We are bombarded every day with the message that happiness comes from money, a job, our next car, all the externals. But what the Tibetan leader makes clear is that joy can be experienced despite our circumstances.
What makes this documentary so compelling is the incredibly infectious joy that these two remarkable people exude. They have spent their lives living out what they preach. They have done that in their speaking out against the injustices in their homelands, but also in the joy they radiate despite the struggles they have been through.
Seeing these two men – self-described as “mischievous brothers” – playfully tease and even tickle each other, just makes it impossible for you to not smile and laugh while watching them. They bring more happiness into a world that desperately needs it. And they show that it is absolutely free.
This documentary makes me want to surrender to joy, to commit my life to it. It reminds me that Jesus, not despite, but because, He was the Man of Sorrows, also knew the deepest joy. As the makers of this documentary say, joy and pain are inseparable. That’s why joy is an inside job. It is an attitude rather than just a feeling.
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The movie is accompanied by an excellent website which goes into detail about the science of joy, outlining studies that reveal that the latest neuroscience confirms what life experience and spiritual traditions have been telling us for thousands of years: that joy is internal.
The website then allows you to become part of what is called the Big Joy Project in which you can learn how to experience joy in various simple steps each and every day. The four main steps it outlines are actions of kindness, gratitude, reframing and connection.
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As I watched this film, the thought that occurred to me was, “Isn’t this what it is to be human, to be more Christlike?”. I can imagine Jesus smiling at this film, laughing and playfully joining in the teasing and tickling with these two exemplary human beings.
As Tutu says in this wonderful documentary, you are a masterpiece in the making. It was this conviction, that we are all, regardless of what we believe, made in the image of the Divine that was the source of his joy. The lives of these two men reveal that we are made for joy, for kindness, for connection.
The film is tinged with some sadness as the exchanges it features turned out to be the last between these two beautiful people, Desmond Tutu passing away in December, 2021. Perhaps it is Tutu’s passing, and the memory of the joyfulness he lived in spite of his great suffering, that makes this film even more watchable.
This is a film that will have you smiling, laughing and possibly crying tears of uninhibited joy as you experience two of the most beautiful human beings of recent times share what it is to be human.
Mission: Joy is gold. Make it your mission to watch it.
