Awakenings (1990)

Director: Penny Marshall

Screenplay: Steven Zaillian (based on the memoir by Oliver Sacks)

Cast: Robin Williams, Robert de Niro

Music: Randy Newman

Time: 121 minutes

Bottom-line: A bittersweet experience; one of the most beautiful films about the human spirit

Based on the memoir by the renowned neurologist, Oliver Sacks, Awakenings is a film that explores the bonding between a doctor and a post-encephalitic patient. Robin Williams and Robert de Niro star in the lead roles, with John Heard, Julie Kavner and Penelope Ann Miller in the supporting roles. The story is inspired by real-life incidents.

There’s no such thing as a simple miracle.

1969, The Bronx: Dr Malcolm Sayer (Williams) is a caring physician at a local hospital. Despite having no previous experience with humans (if only they were less unpredictable, he says) he is designated to work with patients who have survived the 1917-28 epidemic of encephalitis lethargica. Despite their catatonic states, Sayer finds that they are able to respond to familiar music, catch a ball reflexively etc. After attending a conference on the L-Dopa drug and its effects on people suffering from Parkinson’s, Sayer decides to test it out on one particular post-encephalitic patient, Leonard Lowe (de Niro). After several doses, Leonard miraculously “awakens” from his catatonic state. Following the success, other patients are also given the drug. As Leonard adjusts to the new world after 30 years, he falls in love with a patient’s daughter, Paula (Miller). However, the drug starts to have side effects, and all the patients realise that the miracle was too good to last. What happens to Leonard? What happens to his relationships with Dr Sayer and Paula?

There was a time when I was on a spree of Robin Williams films: Insomnia, Dead Poets’ Society, One Hour Photo… and this film made it into the list then, but I never got around to it. Nevertheless, when I decided to watch it, I was rewarded with a poignant, emotional film, with incredible performances by Williams and his co-star, Robert de Niro. In one of his most famous non-comic roles, Williams is wonderful with his sensitive portrayal of emotions: the way his character is influential and genuinely kind to win the admiration of the staff, the patients, and of course, the viewers. Robert de Niro spends the first fifty minutes of the film frozen in a single pose, but is downright amazing in the next half. From the man “waking up” to the new world, to the man making friends and falling in love, to the diseased “patient” suffering from tics and spasms, de Niro makes you smile in joy and almost weep over the course of the film.

 

Williams as Dr Sayer (left) and de Niro as Leonard

The story is beautifully written. In many ways, it was similar to One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, with regard to the whole atmosphere of an “institution”. The characters of Leonard’s mother, Paula and Eleanor (another nurse; portrayed by Kavner) support the main track – providing elements of motherly love and romantic love, which influence both Sayer and Leonard. The scene where Leonard’s mother pleads to Dr Sayer to save him, and the scene where Leonard unleashes his anger on Sayer are two of the most poignant moments of the film, while on the other hand, the scene where Paula dances with Leonard for one last time – and his spasms temporarily stop – is one of the uplifting moments.

Miller as Paula, dancing with de Niro

Despite being nominated for three Oscars (Picture, Actor – de Niro – and Screenplay), Awakenings seems to be one of the lesser known films of both de Niro and Williams. It deserves a lot more recognition, for being an astounding film on the power of the human spirit. I end the review with this quote by Dr Sayer, something that we should reflect on as well: The human spirit is more powerful than any drug and that is what needs to be nourished: with work, play, friendship, family. These are the things that matter. This is what we'd forgotten. The simplest things.

My Rating: 4.5/5

Rotten Tomatoes rating: 88%