This was one of the real notorious "Harvey Weinstein f***ed with my original version" movies from Miramax back in the day. Apparently Bertolucci hated Weinstein because of it, how he took away his director's cut, and what we see today is a compromised edit (whether his full vision will ever be seen again, I have no idea).Then again, how great can a movie be with Keanu Reeves as a Siddhartha? Well - it's not great (that was my previous review of what I thought of the movie way back in the day, when I saw a few scenes on TV). However, taken as a whole, it's actually a much better film than I expected, and is very good *despite* what Weinstein did to the cut, which does appear from seeing the film to have been cut by a good few minutes - maybe for the better, I don't know.All I know is Reeves, who shouldn't have any place in this film, gives an astonishingly moving and even at times soulful performance, all things considered, and Bertolucci and writer Rudy Wurlitzer (of Two-Lane Blacktop!) are very thoughtful about the nature of Buddhism and what the Siddhartha means today. There's context for what this little boy happens upon earlier in the story, and it all gets connected well; any thoughts I had of perhaps, in a silly way, of mocking Reeves' performance went away as soon as I saw what the director and actor did with it.And of course Vittorio Storaro is the man, this along with Bulworth is one of his late masterpieces as a cinematographer. Again, not one of Bertolucci's top masterpieces or whatever, and for kids (this was meant technically as a children's film) it can be a bit mawkish and eh. Yet for what it is, I was absorbed in the way that only a powerful director with a point of view on spirituality and, basically, as an artist can do.

I don't understand all the haters. This movie was understated and calm because of the subject matter, so what did everyone expect from these actors? Drama? This is an anti-drama film. It's about the birth of Buddhism. And Keanu was delightful as Siddhartha. In fact, from what I read about Keanu Reeves, the person, it is my understanding that he is a lot like this character: polite, soft spoken, sensitive, generous, and highly intelligent, all attributes of an enlightened person. And for those who criticize the acting of Bridget Fonda, having watched most if not all her films, it occurs to me that Ms. Fonda has her own style of acting, which is very understated and natural. She is usually cast in roles that don't showcase her talents, but if anybody ever doubts her abilities, or her versatility, they should watch a film she made where she played an assassin, or an abused wife. In this film, she played a little boy's mother very believably. I do agree Chris Isaak was miscast as her husband. For one thing, Bridget Fonda and Chris Isaak strongly resemble one another and could easily be brother and sister. And Chris Isaak is very wooden in the delivery of his lines, making Ms. Fonda's job more difficult. I found the cinematography beautiful, the music beautiful, and the costumes beautiful. This is my second viewing of the film and I really enjoyed it.

some people may see this movie as a introduction to Buddhism and educationally useful. I must say that it is not, not matches with the history terribly. but some people call that stories of Prince Siddhartha and Lord Buddha are not completely true they are myths. but even myths don't happen like how this movie was filmed. anybody can understand that by the first look at the movie. also this movie terribly alters the teachings of Lord Buddha and Tibetan traditions. you can learn how they teach real reincarnations of Lamas by reading the book of autobiography of Lama Lobsang Rampa. there are lot of things that can be talk about

This movie is beautiful to watch but, really beautiful! the scenery and photograph its just a piece of art, but the story is very very weak, the movie knocks down too much about the reincarnation theme, and don't leave any space about the real teachings of Buddha, although the Keanu acting was not bad , Buddha is shown as a stupid teenager, we never feel captured or impressed by the Buddha in this movie, in fact the movie does not show what happens with the Buddha after find the illumination.The script is a disgrace it is only saved by the gorgeous artwork. i would not recommend anyone who is in a spiritual search, this is only recommended to western people who wants to reinforce his beliefs that Buddha is nothing special.