HeAtHeR's Little Buddha

Heather's

Little Buddha Page

For those who feel Keanu always plays the action-hero or the valley-boy or the Shakepearean want-a-be, this movie will crush those ideas down flat. Little Buddha is the story of a little American boy (Jesse) believed to be the reincarnation of a great buddhist priest, by Tibetain monks who go to Seattle to find him.
This movie came out in the Spring of '94, in Canada, I believe, and I saw it (before I knew who Keanu was - B.O. or Before Obsession) on Father's day with my father and my older sister (who had already seen it with my aunt). Most will agree this main plot is fairly boring. It is the sub-plot, telling the story of Buddha (as the boy learns more about Buddhism) that is the far more rich in colour and interesting. And here, we have Keanu, dressed in very little and with make-up "like Cleopatra" playing Prince Siddartha; who is later known as Buddha. It was directed by Bernardo Bertolucci.

Keanu lost so much wieght on and orange and water diet that he suffered from temporary kidney damage. He then had to gain a whole lot of wieght (mostly muscle) for Speed. That couldn't've been good for him!

The Cast

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

The BEST things about this movie:

-Keanu looks great even though he looks very different.
-Keanu plays a god-like figure; as though he knew how many fans feel about him.
-Keanu has an accent and comes off well as an eastern prince - you can't help but be impressed with his effort on this role.
-Cool scenes of Keanu on a horse doing a very collected canter, which, as a rider myself, I'll tell you is very difficult.

Quotes

Keanu quotes
"To learn is to change. The path to enlightenment is the middle way."

Internet Movie Database: Little Buddha (1993)

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