Inquiring Nuns

Take two beatific nuns (Sisters Mary Campion and Marie Anne), give them one disarmingly simple question (”Are you happy?”), turn them lose on the streets of Chicago, and what do you get? This is what the social-activist Kartemquin film collective aimed to find out in their guilelessly provocative 1967 documentary, Inquiring Nuns, just released on video. While some responses are silly, and a few are time-warped (the Vietnam War is a frequently cited source of unhappiness), most of the randomly selected passersby provide inspiring reaffirmation of the virtue of conventional wisdom. A