Buddha: The Great Departure

Buddha: The Great Departure (2011) is a Japanese animated feature you can watch online on iFILM. Based on Osamu Tezuka's landmark manga Buddha, the film opens the story of young Prince Siddhartha Gautama — long before the figure known to history emerges.

Ancient India, two kingdoms at war. Siddhartha grows up shielded behind palace walls, designated by birth to rule and lead armies. An encounter with Migaila, a girl born into slavery, cracks that certainty open — he begins to see what the caste system costs the people living beneath it. Running alongside: Chapra, a soldier from the rival kingdom of Kosala who started life as a slave and clawed his way to military command. When the kingdoms finally collide, both men face what they're willing to do — and what they're willing to abandon.

Tezuka's vision translates to screen with full theatrical scope across 111 minutes. The first installment of a trilogy. Stream Buddha: The Great Departure (2011) online on iFILM.