Zen

The story is about the life and times of the great (perhaps the greatest) zen monk in Japanese history: Dogen.

Dogen's origin is not well known, but what he's become in his later life is part of the Japanese history and culture. The movie is an attempt to portray his life. I'm not sure how much of this story is based on fact. Dogen is the founder of Japanese Soto zen sect which he brought back from China. None of these background information are elaborated in this movie which I think makes this movie miss its point.

It's based on a biographical novel of Dogen by Tetsuo Ootani who himself is a Soto zen monk. I don't know anything about the novel, but since it's supposed to be the life story of Dogen, I believe this movie should reflect that also. However, perhaps the producers have bit off more than they can chew because I find this movie very incomplete whether looking from Buddhistic point of view, or biographic point of view.

How did Dogen arrive at his view of zen Buddhism should at least be highlighted, but none of that is shown in this movie. I believe that the producers didn't know anything about the subject that they were putting on the big screen. It shows on the choppy way the story advances.

The producers, and also the actors were not the caliber that could describe a story of this magnitude.

Good attempt but fail of a production from the aforementioned reasons.