Little Buddha

It is hard to believe that in the 1970s Bernardo Bertolucci was regarded as a cutting edge director, his Last Tango in Paris (1972) being one of iconic films of that innovative era. Although this was an intimate character study, as his follow-up film, Novocento (1976) showed, he had an inclination to the large canvas. This was realized in The Last Emperor (1987) and The Sheltering Sky (1990). Little Buddha which followed the latter film is very much in this direction and uses much of the same creative team, notably writer Mark Peploe and cinematographer, Vittorio Storaro.

The film's story concerns an old monk, Lama Norbu (Ying Ruocheng) who arrives in Seattle in search of the reincarnation of his teacher, Lama Dorje. Norbu. It might be a  boy (Alex Wiesendanger) who lives with his parents, Dean Conrad (Chris Isaak) and his wife. Lisa (Bridget Fonda), in a designer home in Seattle. There are two axes to the narrative. One concerns search of the group of monks to find the reincarnated spirit of their Buddhist teacher. The second axis tells the story of  Siddhartha (Keanu Reeves) and how he became the Buddha.

Films which deal with spiritual matters rarely succeed and Little Buddha, which lumbers between the reverential and the ponderous, is no exception. Clearly there is something problematic in trying to represent metaphysical matters in narrative (or perhaps any) cinema. Partly this stems from the fact that such films founder in a quagmire of expository dialogue, but, and perhaps more importantly, it is dealing with intensely personal and literally unshowable, concerns.

Certainly Little Buddha is beautifully photographed, particularly when dealing with the fabulous story of Siddhartha but whilst the film poses the general question of “is reincarnation a possibility”, the purpose and effect thereof is not explored beyond the allusion to spiritual mastery. One of the key contrasts in the film is between Western materialism and rationalism and Eastern metaphysics but Bertolucci does not pursue the issue in any substantial way. In fact as one watches the closing scene with the Conrads in their designer boat scattering Lama Norbu’s ashes on the cold Seattle-fronting ocean, one cannot help but ask what was this film had been about as the family seem quite unaffected by their extremely unusual experiences.

Aside from this yawning lack of purpose, most people would ask why anyone would have cast Keanu Reeves as the Buddha-dude. It’s not that he’s especially bad in part but rather that he seems so completely unnecessary (and not a few will wonder why Chris Isaak was cast as the engineer-in-crisis father). Over-produced, over-long and failing to engage, Little Buddha is more memorable for its faults than its successes.

DVD Extras: A 15 promotional making-of featurette and the theatrical trailer.

Available from: Umbrella Entertainment

 

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