"... the human spirit is more powerful than any drug,
and THAT is what needs to be nourished: with work, play, friendship, family...
This is what we'd forgotten: the simplest things."
- Dr. Malcolm Sayer, Awakenings (1990)
I feel that the movie Awakenings was concerning two people changing from their current circumstance with the motivation to do what is believed to be right, and the challenges that follow.
This was exemplified with Dr. Malcolm Sayer (Robin Williams) who pressed for the usage of the L-DOPA drug on the catatonic patients. He was met with the reluctance of the hospital and drug manufacturers to claim responsibility, but had the backings of his colleagues when L-DOPA showed positive results. Leonard Lowe (Robert De Niro) also fought for what he believed in, that people had forgotten how to enjoy the basic joy and freedom of being alive. However, his situation as a patient on medication, and the aggression that followed, did not allow for his views to be adequately expressed.
The movie also brings up taboos about life. Encephalitis lethargic patient Frank felt cheated and robbed of their years. Lowe's mother who spent her whole life caring for him suddenly finds that his recovery rendered her purposeless. Finally, being true to the actual events, the movie also portrays the unfairness of life in how their regressed back into their catatonic states.
Regarding the directing of the movie, the part the patients responded to things thrown at them was rather unrealistic. While it gave the intense movie a necessary layer of humour, the reaction from the patients made me question the accuracy of the film. However, the scene that i feel resonated best with the audiences was when Sayer's colleagues gave their money to help him administer the L-DOPA drug on the other patients. That, and Lowe's silent dance with Paula.
While I admired William's portrayal as a social recluse, the movie belonged to De Niro. He managed to make the audience feel the hope, pain, anger and determination of Leonard Lowe. He encapsulated the man who was cheated of 30 years of his life, the boy who woke up after a long sleep and the patient battling encephalitis lethargic in a way that all sides were noticeable to the audience.
