Any old hack can direct movies that make you cry. It's a simple matter of putting onscreen some wrenchingly sentimental image (sad-eyed dog with broken leg, widow on deathbed, noble peasant gunned down by soldiers) while a dozen violins tremble on the sound track. A filmmaker's real challenge is to create what German director Wim Wenders has called "emotion pictures": films that move you in a fresh way, with images that speak to the intelligent heart. Bernardo Bertolucci makes emotion pictures. He illustrates complex issues with indelible, seductive, ravishing images. And in his 12th film, Little Buddha, the Italian director has...
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