The Buddha

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.

This is a very informative documentary, and one that doesn't try to shove anything down your throat. Nor does it try to use guilt or fear in an attempt to sell some sort of moral message to the viewer. It simply just gives you as much info that is known about the life of the Buddha. It also explains some of the teachings and beliefs that the Buddha went on to develop and share. This film gives a general overview of the Buddhist way of life and thought. The pace of this documentary is also very good, this aspect makes it very easy to pay attention. Richard Gere with his smooth voice also suits the film perfectly as the narrator. And of course he is also a Buddhist himself. The visuals are great here as well. I highly recommend this to everyone. Whether you consider yourself a spiritual person or not, this is certainly worth a look. It is very interesting stuff, and this is well crafted material. Check it out!

9/10

This is a beautiful and poetic production covering who the Buddha was and why we should care. In particular, I love the tone of this documentary, which avoids the flash and quick pacing of so many productions and instead opts for the qualities that may be ascribed to the Buddha himself.

I just finished watching the movie titled "The Buddha" a two hour documentary about the life of Siddhartha Gautama who was also known as The Buddha. To be honest, this movie really didn't appeal to me whatsoever, and I found myself falling asleep at parts. I would suggest this movie to people who really want to learn more about Buddhism in depth, for someone like me who just needs the basics this was a little too much. It didn't go into extreme depth but it just took a long time to say the basic fundamentals of the Buddhist teachings and the Buddha's life. However, the artistic style of the movie was quite interesting and very well done. It was told a lot in paintings, and the music in the background really fit the mood of the movie. There were also multiple interviews with different people including the Dalai Lama which made the movie slightly more engaging. I didn't feel like the movie was really trying to force the Buddhism beliefs on you which I really liked, because I find that sometimes movies like this will try and do that. It wasn't an awful movie, and I really appreciated the artistic side of it, but I won't be watching it again.

This documentary was quite light on information and expertise - one of the main speakers had a byline that just said 'poet' - but I guess this is meant as a first introduction to Buddhism so that is understandable.

On the other hand, the visual background consists of beautiful art and well chosen images that made this an enjoyable watch even if the viewer doesn't learn very much.