Little Buddha (1994)

i must have seen a different film!!

Excellent, Without a doubt!!

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

Blistering performances.

My older brother brought this movie for me for a present when i was young and it taught me a lot about self sacrifice and following your heart to what ever end. Many lessons to be seen in the film if you choose to see them. A must watch.

I must admit it: I'm a sucker for fantasy, historic and religious films: be it „Lord of the Rings", „The Bible" or „Conan the Barbarian", I rarely let one pass me by, and so I was pulled into the cinema to see "Little Buddha". In retrospect, the money could have been spent better.The Buddhist faith has always seemed to inspire faith-seeking westerners; after all: the Dalai Lama seems an amiable chap, Richard Gere has done his share in promotion-work and, let's be honest here: the religion has inspired far less war, genocide and general mayhem than other so-called world-religions. However, I cannot imagine many Buddhists being very happy with having Bertolluci turn their faith into a fairy-tale for jaded Westerners. What would Hindus have thought, had James Cameron turned the Bhagadvad Gita into a 3D action flick? Bertolluci is a very good director, no doubt about it. Unfortunately, he's also a director who takes himself a little too serious at times. Rather than relying on his talent, he tends to ham it up for the greater effect. Why rely on the story and the actors, if you could simply add a more impressive sound and extra color, is the question that Betolluci must have asked himself as he was filming. In essence, that's the difference between good directors like Bertolluci and Coppola, and brilliant directors like Werner Herzog.Now, having mentioned the word "ham", we must now speak of protagonist Keanu Reeves. If the Buddhist ideas of reincarnation are correct, chances are good that Keanu Reeves will be reborn as a ham-sandwich. I clearly recall how the entire cinema broke out in laughter, when Reeves opened his mouth for the first time in "Bram Stokers Dracula", trying to imitate an English accent. When Reeves tried his good luck at an Indian accent, nobody in the cinema was laughing, presumably out of embarrassment. Just my neighbor mumbled the famous Peter Sellers line: "Birdy num-num", summing up all that must be said about Reeves "performance" (and almost causing me to soil my pants). By the end of the film I was thinking about the Islamic creed, which prohibits their prophet from being depicted or heard on any medium."Little Buddha" would have greatly benefited from a similar policy.3/10 points because it pains me to give a good director like Bertolluci any less (even though, in the case of "Little Buddha", he would probably have deserved it). Plus, we probably have to thank Bertolluci for making this film before M. Night Shyamalan could get his hands on it (casting himself in the leading role, naturally).

I don't understand all the haters. This movie was understated and calm because of the subject matter, so what did everyone expect from these actors? Drama? This is an anti-drama film. It's about the birth of Buddhism. And Keanu was delightful as Siddhartha. In fact, from what I read about Keanu Reeves, the person, it is my understanding that he is a lot like this character: polite, soft spoken, sensitive, generous, and highly intelligent, all attributes of an enlightened person. And for those who criticize the acting of Bridget Fonda, having watched most if not all her films, it occurs to me that Ms. Fonda has her own style of acting, which is very understated and natural. She is usually cast in roles that don't showcase her talents, but if anybody ever doubts her abilities, or her versatility, they should watch a film she made where she played an assassin, or an abused wife. In this film, she played a little boy's mother very believably. I do agree Chris Isaak was miscast as her husband. For one thing, Bridget Fonda and Chris Isaak strongly resemble one another and could easily be brother and sister. And Chris Isaak is very wooden in the delivery of his lines, making Ms. Fonda's job more difficult. I found the cinematography beautiful, the music beautiful, and the costumes beautiful. This is my second viewing of the film and I really enjoyed it.

This movie is beautiful to watch but, really beautiful! the scenery and photograph its just a piece of art, but the story is very very weak, the movie knocks down too much about the reincarnation theme, and don't leave any space about the real teachings of Buddha, although the Keanu acting was not bad , Buddha is shown as a stupid teenager, we never feel captured or impressed by the Buddha in this movie, in fact the movie does not show what happens with the Buddha after find the illumination.The script is a disgrace it is only saved by the gorgeous artwork. i would not recommend anyone who is in a spiritual search, this is only recommended to western people who wants to reinforce his beliefs that Buddha is nothing special.