Much has been written about the universality and timelessness of suffering, but few explain how to find peace in the face of illness, misfortune, and death. In THE BUDDHA, David Grubin explores the life of one man who came to terms with life's fragility over 2,500 years ago, and whose teachings still lead followers to understanding, compassion, and contentment today.

Grubin (an American documentary filmmaker whose award-winning works include Truman, LBJ, The Jewish Americans, The Secret Life of the Brain, and Napoleon) wrote, directed and produced this film about Siddhartha Gautama - a young prince born at the foot of the Himalayas in approximately 550 BCE. Siddhartha was raised in a palace and accorded every luxury:

Shielded from pain and poverty - a curious, 29-year-old Siddhartha ventured outside the palace with his attendant and had four unexpected encounters (with a sick man, an old man, a corpse, and a spiritual seeker). Siddhartha, horrified to learn that impermanence and death were part of the natural order, renounced his wealth and began searching for answers to the puzzling questions: "Why do human beings suffer?" and "Is there any escape?"

For years, Siddhartha lived life on the edge - embracing poverty, starvation, grueling physical punishment, celibacy, and meditation in an effort to gain wisdom and come to terms with suffering.

It's no easy task to effectively depict past events - especially when a story is mystical in nature. Fortunately, Grubin chose to use animation for surreal scenes and enlisted the help of Brian & Richard O'Connell from award-winning Asterisk Animation. The O'Connell team seamlessly morphs live shots into eye-pleasing, fluid representations which are sometimes full of color, at other times more subdued - but always to excellent effect. Grubin also incorporated archival images and works from the Asia Society Museum to bring THE BUDDHA to life. Richard Gere and Blair Brown provide well-paced, pleasant narration that moves the story along without drawing undue attention. The film also benefits from a wonderful mix of contemporary Buddhists, yogis, ascetics, poets and scholars, who provide great insight into Siddhartha's life and its impact over the course of two and a half millennia. Some featured speakers include His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet; Pulitzer prize-winning poet WS Merwin; psychiatrist Mark Epstein, Astrophysicist Trinh X. Thuan; and scholar Robert Thurman.

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