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SiddharthaRating:
Release Date: 03 December, 2002 Retail Price: $29.99 OUR Price: $26.99 You SAVE: $3.00! Cast: |
Siddhartha Reviews
Siddhartha is a must
Siddhartha is a powerful movie. It is focused on one individual's spiritual journey through life. It is a story about illumination of self-discovery, learning the lessons and meaning of life through our individual experiences. It is a journey that teaches us the importance of finding, as contrary to simply seeking. After seeing it we can truly obtain wisdom and understanding of life.
Flow, river, flow
This is a beautiful film in many ways, probably none more so than in the way the director has interpreted Herman Hesse's novel of the same name. I see little point in regurgitating the essence of the plot as it really does nothing but detract from the purpose of the review.
As with all works of art, in whatever media form it may be expressed, this is an interpretive statement of the author's original novel and as such it is an interpretation as much based on the audience it is geared up to as well as the film maker's. It may be legitimate for a critic to dispute the finer points of the interpretation or even the philosophical or religious underpinnings but in this case, it seems to me that we miss the point.
As a reader, I must confess to finding all of Hesse's work not as it would appear at first glance. Even Siddhartha, an apparently simple tale, is a much more complex and thought provoking text than it appears. Not being an expert in this area, I do not dare to present an exegis of the book which I will happily leave to more authoritative reviewers.
To me the director has tried to tease out, as he sees them, the salient points of the text and has done so in a personal form as if the main character is the narrator. He tells the tale in a rather unfeeling way suggesting a sense of detatchment and objectivity, a device which is present throughout the movie and which in a way denies the need to try and deal with an emotional aspect. Siddhartha's inability to deny his emotions is sorely tested when his newly found son rejects him and runs away to the town. Further, his innate inability to recognise these passions and deal with them brings into sharp focus the imbalance in his character of being too objective, too clever, too logical. In a way the film seems to be taking more of a Zen approach throughout.
There is abundant beauty throughtout this film. Not surprisingly the three central characters are very photogenic and beautiful and their surroundings are clear and beautiful too. The exposure of poverty and opulence to the camera gives everything an appearance of beauty including the poor and the holy men. This again allows the highlighting of the bad as feelings and inhumanity such as the travellers pushing away the young boy as he searches urgently for help for his mother.
There is beauty too in the overall serenity of the movie which perhaps may have been an aim of the director.
Ultimately, this movie can be interpreted too on many levels and in that it certainly follows the book. I found it to be engrossing and thought provoking and my only negative is the excessive echo on the voices.
This is a must for anyone who wishes to take an introduction into Hesse's work before delving into the text. It is worth watching too as a sumptuous spectacle of filmmaking.
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