- For the book by Oliver Sacks see Awakenings (book)
Awakenings is a 1990 drama film based on Oliver Sacks' memoir of the same name. It tells the true story of a doctor (Sacks, who is fictionalized as Malcolm Sayer) who, in 1969, discovers beneficial effects of the then-new drug L-Dopa. He applied it on catatonic patients who survived the 1917-1928 epidemic of encephalitis lethargica. Leonard Lowe (played by Robert De Niro) and the rest of the patients were awakened after decades of catatonic state and have to deal with a new life in a new time.
Directed by Penny Marshall, the film stars Robert DeNiro, Robin Williams, John Heard, Julie Kavner, Penelope Ann Miller and Max Von Sydow. The film also has cameos from Jazz legend Dexter Gordon (who died before the film's release) who appears as a patient, as well as a then-unknown Vin Diesel, who plays a hospital orderly.
The screenplay was written by Steven Fredrick Zaillian, based on Sacks' book. The book was also used by Harold Pinter as the basis of his one-act play A Kind of Alaska, performed in 1982.
Plot
Sayer revives all of the patients from their immovable state, but as he finds out later in the movie, he cannot stop them from returning once again to that state, no matter how much he increases the L-Dopa dosage. Leonard Lowe, who was the first to "awaken", begins to withdraw first, and all of the patients are forced to witness what will eventually happen to them. Leonard begins to have full body spasms and can hardly move, saying that he feels more like a series of tics than an actual human. Leonard, however, puts up well with the pain, and asks Sayer to film him, in hopes that he would some day contribute to research that may eventually help others. He also takes a romantic interest to a woman named Paula, whose father is in the hospitalLeonard and Sayer clash with the hospital administration, who refuse to let any of the patients outside on their own. Sayer reluctantly agrees with the decision, putting him at odds with Leonard, who has come to fully appreciate every aspect of life after being asleep for so many years. The two eventually reconcile, but Leonard returns to his catatonic state soon after, which is painful for the nurses, Sayer, and especially Leonard's mother. Sayer tells a group of grant donors to the hospital that although the "awakening" did not last, another kind—one of learning to appreciate and live life—took place. Nevertheless, Sayer still finds himself depressed for failing to keep Leonard "awake," but Eleanor tells him that he is a good person and Leonard considered him his best friend. Sayer, remembering Leonard's advice on living every minute of life, asks Eleanor to join him for a cup of coffee which is significant because he declined the offer from Eleanor in the beginning of the story, when he wasn't very good with people but his experiences with Leonard have changed how he relates to others.
Awards and nominations
The film was nominated for Academy Awards for Best Actor in a Leading Role (Robert De Niro), Best Picture and Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium.References in popular culture
The film's plot was also the basis for one section of the Dream Theater song "Octavarium".In the Fox TV show, House MD, Season 3, episode 7, "Son of a Coma Guy". House, when preparing to wake a patient from a vegetative state with L-DOPA comments "We've all seen Awakenings, made me cry...I want to cry."
External links
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Last updated on Tuesday July 22, 2008 at 18:42:25 PDT (GMT -0700)
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