[DVD] Little Buddha (1993)

I haven't seen much of director Bernardo Bertolucci's films, the only one in which I could recall vividly was The Last Emperor. In Little Buddha, Bertolucci attempted to tell the story of Siddhartha, Buddha himself, but somehow I felt it was a bit too little, as this film also told a separate story about a reincarnated Lama.

Bridget Fonda and Chris Isaak star as the Conrad couple Lisa and Dean, whose son Jesse is believed to be a reincarnation of a Lama from Bhutan. This led to a visit by the Lama's disciple Lama Norbu, who introduces Buddhism to the Conrad family. However, he's not sure if Jesse is the one, but indications have made the case strong. The tale takes all of them back to Bhutan where they meet up with another 2 potential candidates, and contemplate just who was the actual reincarnate.

At the same time, the story of the origins of Buddha is weaved into the narrative, which was what appealed to me when watching this movie. I am not an expert in Bhuddist studies, but I felt that the story was well told, and the cinematography for this segment, just wondrously majestic. I believe many at that time balked at Bertolucci when he casted Keanu Reeves in the role of Siddhartha, as he was better known for his surfer dude image. But I thought Reeves did credibly well, and suffered for his art in making a credible Prince, though some would cringe at this attempt to speak with an accent.

Buddhism doesn't get shoved down your throat, so for those who are staunch in their respective religions, no worries, this movie doesn't attempt to be preachy. It makes interesting the journey to Nirvana and Enlightenment, through the Middle Way, and I would say it would make interesting general knowledge (I am not vouching on the accuracy as I can't) in which to build upon.

Perhaps what I felt was a let down was the other major segment on the search for the Lama reincarnate, as there were minor sub-plots which got introduced but not further developed. I would be more interested to learn about Siddhartha's path to Nirvana in more detail through film, but probably that's another story for another filmmaker to make.

Code 1 DVD Extras: Extremely bareboned version.