Little Buddha (1993)

Director:

Bernardo Bertolucci

Writers (WGA):

Bernardo Bertolucci (story)
Rudy Wurlitzer (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

25 May 1994 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

Lama Norbu comes to Seattle in search of the reincarnation of his dead teacher, Lama Dorje. His search leads him to young Jesse Conrad...

Plot Keywords:

Reincarnation | Enlightenment | Buddhist | Nonlinear Timeline | Kicked In Butt

Awards:

1 win & 3 nominations

Cast

Keanu Reeves	...	Siddhartha
Ruocheng Ying	...	Lama Norbu (as Ying Ruocheng)
Chris Isaak	...	Dean Conrad
Bridget Fonda	...	Lisa Conrad
Alex Wiesendanger	...	Jesse Conrad
Raju Lal	...	Raju
Greishma Makar Singh	...	Gita
Sogyal Rinpoche	...	Kenpo Tenzin
Ven. Khyongla Rato Rinpoche	...	Abbot
Ven. Geshe Tsultim Gyelsen	...	Lama Dorje
Jo Champa	...	Maria
Jigme Kunsang	...	Champa
Thubtem Jampa	...	Punzo
Surekha Sikri	...	Sonali
T.K. Lama	...	Sanjay

Also Known As:

Little Buddha (France)
Piccolo Buddha (Italy)

Runtime:

123 min | Australia:141 min

Country:

Italy | France | Liechtenstein | UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.20 : 1

Sound Mix:

70 mm 6-Track (70 mm prints) | Dolby Digital (35 mm prints)

Certification:

Germany:12 | Netherlands:AL | Iceland:L | South Korea:All | Argentina:Atp | Finland:K-8 | France:U | Spain:T | Sweden:11 | UK:PG | USA:PG | Singapore:PG | Australia:PG

Filming Locations:

Bhutan

Company:

CiBy 2000

Trivia:

For the scene in the forest with the ascetics where Siddartha becomes emaciated from lack of food, Keanu Reeves went on a crash diet of oranges and water.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When Raju play with the GameBoy you can hear that he is playing Tetris. But if you watch closely you can see that it is not turned on at all.

Quotes:

Lisa Conrad: [while watching Jesse when he is in the bath] C'mon, now your toes.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Matrix (1999)

A gentle introduction to Buddhism

If you suspend your need for believable characters, this film does have moments that take you to another world where good and evil are at odds and how one man, Prince Siddharta (Keanu Reeves), deals with the inner demons that reside within us all.

The scenes in which you learn about the life of Prince Siddharta are beautifully done. We get a Buddhist primer of sorts, and learn about the trials that Prince Siddharta had to go through on his quest for enlightenment.

As for the rest of the movie, well, it just dragged in a lot of places and the characters just were not all that believable.

If you know little or nothing about Tibetan Buddhism and would like to get a sense of it without getting into heavy dogma and spiritual practice, this movie is a nice intro.