Awakenings is a 1990 American drama film based on Oliver Sacks's 1973 memoir Awakenings. It tells the true story of British neurologist Oliver Sacks, fictionalized as American Malcolm Sayer and portrayed by Robin Williams who, in 1969, discovers beneficial effects of the then-new drug L-Dopa. He administered it to catatonic patients who survived the 1917–28 epidemic of encephalitis lethargica. Leonard Lowe (played by Robert De Niro) and the rest of the patients were awakened after decades of catatonia and have to deal with a new life in a new time. The film was nominated for three Academy Awards.

Directed by Penny Marshall, the film was produced by Walter Parkes and Lawrence Lasker, who first encountered Sacks's book as undergraduates at Yale University and optioned it a few years later. Awakenings stars Robert De Niro, Robin Williams, Julie Kavner, Ruth Nelson, John Heard, Penelope Ann Miller, and Max Von Sydow. The film features a non-speaking cameo from jazz legend Dexter Gordon (who died before the film's release) who appears as a patient and then-unknowns Bradley Whitford, Peter Stormare, Vin Diesel, and Vincent Pastore play a doctor, neurochemist, hospital orderly and a psych-ward patient, respectively.

Plot[link]

In 1969, Dr. Malcolm Sayer (Robin Williams) is a dedicated and caring physician at a local hospital in the New York City borough of The Bronx. After working extensively with the catatonic patients who survived the 1917-1928 epidemic of encephalitis lethargica, Sayer discovers certain stimuli will reach beyond the patients' respective catatonic states; actions such as catching a ball thrown at them, hearing familiar music, and experiencing human touch all have unique effects on particular patients and offer a glimpse into their worlds. Leonard Lowe (Robert De Niro) proves elusive in this regard, but Sayer soon discovers that Leonard is able to communicate with him by using a Ouija board.

After attending a lecture at a conference on the subject of the L-Dopa drug and its success with patients suffering from Parkinson's Disease, Sayer believes the drug may offer a breakthrough for his own group of patients. A trial run with Leonard Lowe yields astounding results as Leonard completely "awakens" from his catatonic state; this success inspires Sayer to ask for funding from donors so that all the catatonic patients can receive the L-Dopa medication and experience "awakenings" back to reality.

Meanwhile, Leonard is adjusting to his new life and becomes romantically interested in Paula (Penelope Ann Miller), the daughter of another hospital patient and begins spending time with her when she comes to the hospital to visit her father. Leonard also begins to chafe at the restrictions placed upon him as a patient of the hospital, desiring the freedom to come and go as he pleases and stirs up a bit of a revolt in the process of arguing his case repeatedly to Sayer and the hospital administration. Sayer notices that as Leonard grows more agitated battling administrators and staff about his perceived confinement, a number of facial and body tics are starting to manifest and Leonard has difficulty controlling them.

While Sayer and the hospital staff continue to delight in the success of L-Dopa with this group of patients, they soon find that it is a temporary measure. As the first to "awaken", Leonard is also the first to demonstrate the limited duration of this period of "awakening". Leonard's tics grow more and more prominent and he starts to shuffle more as he walks, and all of the patients are forced to witness what will eventually happen to them. He soon begins to suffer full body spasms and can hardly move. 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. Leonard acknowledges sadly what is happening to him and has a last lunch with Paula where he tells her he cannot see her anymore. When he is about to leave, Paula dances with him, and for this short period of time his spasms disappear. Leonard and Dr. Sayer reconcile their differences, but Leonard returns to his catatonic state soon after. The other patients' fears are similarly realized as each eventually returns to catatonia no matter how much their L-Dopa dosages are increased.

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. For example, he himself, who has always been lonely, decides to go on a date with one of the nurses. The nurses now treat the catatonic patients once again with more respect and care, and Paula is shown visiting Leonard. The film ends with Sayer standing over Leonard behind a Ouija board, with his hands on Leonard's hands which man the planchette. "Let's begin," Sayer says.

Cast[link]

• Robert De Niro as Leonard Lowe
• Robin Williams as Dr. Malcolm Sayer
• Julie Kavner as Eleanor Costello
• John Heard as Dr. Kaufman
• Ruth Nelson as Mrs. Lowe
• Penelope Ann Miller as Paula
• Max Von Sydow as Dr. Peter Ingham
• Alice Drummond as Lucy
• Judith Malina as Rose
• Richard Libertini as Sidney
• Keith Diamond as Anthony
• Peter Stormare as Neurochemist
• Bradley Whitford as Dr. Tyler
• Dexter Gordon as Rolando
• Vincent Pastore as Ward patient (as Vinny Pastore)
• Vin Diesel (uncredited) as Hospital orderly

Release and reception[link]

Awakenings opened in limited release on December 22, 1990 with $417,076, then released on January 11, 1991 in wide release at #2 with $8,306,532 behind Home Alone's ninth weekend.^[2] The film is "Certified Fresh" on Rotten Tomatoes, with 87% of critics giving the film a positive review, with an average score of 6.8 out of 10 from 29 reviews.^[3]

Academy Award nominations[link]

The film received three Academy Award nominations:

• Academy Award for Best Picture
• Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay
• Academy Award for Best Actor for Robert De Niro

See also[link]

• Octavarium (song)

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Awakenings

Film portal

• Awakenings at the Internet Movie Database
• Awakenings at AllRovi
• Awakenings at Box Office Mojo
• Awakenings at Rotten Tomatoes
• Other Places – Listed in "Plays" section of haroldpinter.org. [Includes photograph of playbill, production details, and retyped performance review by Alan Jenkins, originally published in TLS entitled "The Withering of Love", reproduced with permission.]