Listonixio Fresh and Exciting

Aubrey Hackett While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

Suman Roberson It's a movie as timely as it is provocative and amazingly, for much of its running time, it is weirdly funny.

Brenda The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

evening1 It's the rare documentary that is a therapeutic experience but I felt soothed and comforted by this gentle examination of the life of Buddha, the young Indian prince who abandoned a life of privilege to seek enlightenment. It surprised me to learn that, according to legend, the young prince Siddhartha had a kind of immaculate birth -- springing from his mother's side!Narrated by Tibet advocate Richard Gere and the actress Blair Brown, whom I had not heard about since her "Molly Dodd" days, this film offers all manner of colorful and thoughtful commentary from a variety of monks, scholars, and writers. In one segment, an impressively agile practitioner of yoga -- a means of "harnessing the energies of the body to tame the mind," which can be "as restless as a monkey" -- performs stunning breathing exercises and some impressive physical contortions.The Dalai Lama explains how enlightenment can be the hard work of each one of us, with the Buddha a presence to light our way.In all, this was a tranquil and thought-provoking excursion.

JacBur I watched this great documentary about the Siddhartha life titled "The Buddha". This movie wasn't terrible, however it wasn't fit for me. The pictures and real paintings they showed really helped narrate the story of the Buddha's life and the explanation of the people who were being interviewed too. As well the music fit perfectly and really set the mood. I really think the overall production of the movie was fantastic. The disadvantages were the story went into so too much depth for me, because I just needed a basic understanding. I recommend this movie to people who really want to have a deep understanding and a thorough history of his life.

buggs I found this documentary very instructive. I saw it on PBS, which is very well known for its high quality documentaries. And this one just follows that tradition. Buddhism is a beautiful religion/philosophy and was portrayed in the documentary in a simple and easy to understand manner. The music adequately accompanies the narration and the beautiful animations.The Buddha's story is very touching and reflects the endless quest of humanity for peace. Peace starts with one's self, to be able to reflect it on the outside world.Personnaly, it opened my eyes and heart at life. Will definitely meditate more often now. Highly recommended.

stevebob David Grubin's "The Buddha" is rather awful. It's the kind of pseudo-documentary infotainment that's prevalent on the History Channel or the Discovery Channel, and it's perhaps more suited to such venues than an outlet as committed to educational programming as PBS ostensibly is.The narration here is vapid, the images of art or landscapes are rarely identified, and the animations are juvenile. Though the music strives to feel momentous, it's actually generic Asian-sounding New Age pap. Perhaps the worst element is that so many of the talking heads are frankly annoying. Despite apparently formidable credentials, their commentaries -- whether discursive observations from the academics or musings delivered in a tone of wide-eyed wonder by the deep-thinking spiritual types -- are superficial and simplistic.Increasingly PBS seems to underestimate the intelligence and education of its viewing audience. It's a shame such a respected institution has become part of our culture-wide trend of dumbing down instead of maintaining the standards that its contributors have a right to expect.For all but the most undiscerning and undiscriminating, this film is likely to be found to be an exasperating waste of time -- or a two-hour snooze.