Happiness

The debut feature from Russian cinema pioneer Aleksandr Medvedkin, this slapstick silent comedy centers on a downtrodden peasant named Khmyr who follows his dreams of prosperity into a plummeting spiral of mishap and misadventures. Filmed in 1934, Medvedkin's classic was banned in his native country for more than 40 years, criticized for satirizing the new Soviet society and for containing anti-Bolshevik overtones.