Little Buddha

Annotation for KRRR! 2018 by Dan Krátký

Legendary Italian director Bernardo Bertolucci traveled to Asia again a few years after completing the epic The Last Emperor (1987). This time, however, he focused on the story of a boy named Jesse (Alex Wiesendanger), who is visited by Buddhist monks because he might or might not be a reincarnated lama. Despite the initial skepticism of his parents, unsuccessful father Dean (Chris Isaak) and loving mother Lisa (Bridget Fonda), the boy slowly begins to fall for the magical story of the Indian prince Siddhartha (Keanu Reeves), the father of Buddhism. Little Buddha unravels a narrative that operates on two levels. On the one hand, it is the contemporary United States of America, where Jesse learns about Buddhist teachings and meets monks. The second level is a book that the boy receives from the monks. In it, Prince Siddhartha leaves his native village to rid the world of suffering and later becomes the Buddha. These two levels mirror each other in their development, both heroes are moving towards knowledge and Bertolucci skillfully guides the audience across two worlds that are different, but their heroes could not be more similar. Jesse also leaves his comfortable home and travels to Bhutan to find out if he is really destined to be a spiritual leader. In the end, myth and reality become so close that it is difficult to distinguish where one ends and the other begins.

The key role here is played by cinematographer Vittorio Storaro, who also worked on The Last Emperor or Apocalypse (1979). His camera slowly reveals the deep and empty space of an American apartment and confronts it with the oversaturated, almost ornamental, mise-en-scène of the East. Bertolucci ironically empties the materialistic West, while the past saturated with spirituality is full of stimuli. Something is constantly happening in the film frame, the action is staged in several shots and filmed in large units. The story of the young prince is full of colorful clothes, sunbeams, decorated walls and thousands of falling flowers. The world in which Jesse lives, on the other hand, is full of sharp edges, strong lines and a monotonous color palette.

And it is in color contrasts that Little Buddha achieves its most striking opposition. The east is full of warm and saturated colors. Orange sunbeams fall on the ground, robes are deep red and meadows turn green. The materialistic present is defined by emptied rooms, a strong staging of the depth of space and, above all, cold colors. Seattle is dark blue to gray - and Jesse and his parents also dress in inconspicuous colors compared to the monks. However, while the unsuccessful architect Dean transfers his sad blue color to the illuminated Bhutan, Jesse adapts to the new environment. Thus, he provides hope that the rays of sunlight will reach even the cold and spiritually lacking American city.