What Makes Us Human? Is it that we love, that we fight? That we laugh? Cry? Our curiosity? The quest for discovery? These are the questions which filmmaker and artist Yann Arthus-Bertrand sought to answer when he and a team of creatives spent three years filming around the world collecting unique perspectives about the human experience from more than 2,000 men and women.

I came across this three part documentary on Facebook scrolling through my news-feed. I clicked on the video of a Jewish Holocaust survivor who spoke about her experience of survival, and how a simple gift of chocolate to a fellow detainee led to the life of a psychiatrist who studies the impact of traumatic situations on the mind of survivors.

This story alone deeply touched me, and led to me digging until i found the entire trilogy on a site called Films For Action. The stories told by each and every one of those 2,000 persons interviewed by Yann are deeply personal, moving recollections of their experiences and touches a chord in the heart of those who view them.

The film not only captures the faces and stories of the people, it also incorporates powerful, breathtaking visuals of the landscape around which adds even more context and depth to the documentary.

Part 1 deals with the themes of love, women, work and poverty.
Part 2 deals with the themes of war, forgiving, homosexuality, family and life after death.
Part 3 deals with the themes of happiness, education, disability, immigration, corruption and the meaning of life.

Below, I have placed all 3 parts of the film for your own viewing, and I'm sure like me, you will be personally touched and maybe take away an understanding as to what connects a group of people who are so different yet so similar.

Turn on the Closed Captions (CC) to know the countries where the images were filmed and the first name of the interviewees.