The Buddha [Blu-ray] [2010]

He remains one of the most legendary and influential of all religious progenitors, but what of his actual life? In this biographical documentary, Emmy Award-winning director David Grubin tells the historical tale of Gautama Buddha (563-483 BC), from his initial enlightenment under a fig tree through his death around the age of 80. In the process, Grubin makes an unusual point: that Gautama never once claimed to be God or God's emissary, but instead sought to find a way to bring peace and alleviation from suffering to others in a cruel and often insane world. In telling this story, Grubin combines a number of elements including original animations, testimony by contemporary Buddhists such as the 14th Dalai Lama Tenzin Gyatso, glimpses of sculptures and paintings that help tell Gautama's story, and much more.~Nathan Southern