If you know next to nothing about Yogananda...
...this is a must see, but otherwise it's nothing special.
If viewing this documentary inspires one to read Yogananda's book, "Autobiography of A Yogi", good.
For all the stories told, and perspectives shared, by various people with important connections to his publications and his Self Realization Fellowship, the narrative never offers much insight into Yogananda as a person.
What I saw was mainly an honest, workmanlike attempt at exhibiting Yogananda as an icon. I learned a couple of things about his story that I didn't know before too, but precious little about what they meant to him.
The film touches occasionally on his difficulties, highlights his remarkable triumphs, accurately presents his wisdom (often in his own words), but all from a sanitized, sentimental, even nostalgic, distance.
Overall, "Awake" offers about as much depth and insight into the man as your standard half-hour ESPN feature on any given iconic college football coach. Yes, that's a shame.
Maybe I was expecting too much of the documentarians in wanting more than a couple passing comments into the life Yogananda lived as an actual person.
*Danny's not here, Mrs. Torrance*