Awkainings (1990)

A friend of mine had been trying to get me to see 'Awakenings' for years, I'd seen a few scenes of it back in the 90's but had never gotten around to watching the whole thing. Well the movie was about to leave Prime so that worked as a motivator/ excuse for me to finally sit down and watch it, I did, I loved it, and I was able to get another friend to sit down and watch it later that same night. I guess I'm better at giving movie recommendations then taking them? 

The 1990 film 'Awakenings' is based on Oliver Sacks 1973 memoir of the same name. In 1969 Sacks was working at a New York long term care facility where the use of a new anti Parkinson's drug L-DOPA, was able to revive decades comatose patients who had all been victims of a 1920's epidemic of Encephalitis Lethargica. In effect these patients comatose state was the result of a condition that acted like a super-accelerated Parkinson's, like humming bird wings it was a though they were vibrating so quickly as to seem motionless. This new serum was able to revive what seemed to be around a score of people, but only for a number of months, after which the new drug ceased being effective and they returned to a near vegetative state.

Robin Williams plays the Sacks surrogate Dr. Maclom Sayer (why not just call the character Oliver Sachs I'm not sure), Robert De Niro plays Lenord Loe, the first patient they test the new drug on, and who was little more then a child when he went under. So this is a Williams / De Niro movie, what an odd paring, and they are both excellent in this, each playing against type. Williams a closed in, socially awkward doctor, De Niro essentially a teenager, a good boy who wakes up a middle aged man and has to cope with that. 

The film also has a largish supporting cast, many other patients, but also Julie Kavner as a sympathetic nurse, John Heard as a less sympathetic hospital administrator, and Penelope Ann Miller as a sort of love interest for De Niro. This is a beautiful film, both happy and sad. Though the 'cure' is only temporary it inspires those around the patients, principally hospital staff including Williams, to not waste the precious gift of life they are given. ****