awakenings movie summary essay

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We do not know what we see when we look at Leonard. We think we see a human vegetable, a peculiar man who has been frozen in the same position for 30 years, who neither moves nor speaks. What goes on inside his mind? Is he thinking in there? Of course not, a neurologist says in Penny Marshall 's new film "Awakenings." Why not? "Because the implications of that would be unthinkable." Ah, but the expert is wrong, and inside the immobile shell of his body, Leonard is still there. Still waiting.

Leonard is one of the patients in the "garden," a ward of a Bronx mental hospital that is so named by the staff because the patients are there simply to be fed and watered. It appears that nothing can be done for them. They were victims of the great "sleeping sickness" epidemic of the 1920s, and after a period of apparent recovery they regressed to their current states. It is 1969. They have many different symptoms, but essentially they all share the same problem: They cannot make their bodies do what their minds desire. Sometimes that blockage is manifested through bizarre physical behavior, sometimes through apparent paralysis.

One day a new doctor comes to work in the hospital. He has no experience in working with patients; indeed, his last project involved earthworms. Like those who have gone before him, he has no particular hope for these ghostly patients, who are there and yet not there. He talks without hope to one of the women, who looks blankly back at him, her head and body frozen. But then he turns away, and when he turns back she has changed her position -- apparently trying to catch her eyeglasses as they fell. He tries an experiment. He holds her glasses in front of her, and then drops them. Her hand flashes out quickly and catches them.

Yet this woman cannot move through her own will. He tries another experiment, throwing a ball at one of the patients. She catches it. "She is borrowing the will of the ball," the doctor speculates. His colleagues will not listen to this theory, which sounds suspiciously metaphysical, but he thinks he's onto something. What if these patients are not actually "frozen" at all, but victims of a stage of Parkinson's Disease so advanced that their motor impulses are cancelling each other out--what if they cannot move because all of their muscles are trying to move at the same time, and they are powerless to choose one impulse over the other? Then the falling glasses or the tossed ball might be breaking the deadlock!

This is the great discovery in the opening scenes of "Awakenings," preparing the way for sequences of enormous joy and heartbreak, as the patients are "awakened" to a personal freedom they had lost all hope of ever again experiencing -- only to find that their liberation comes with its own cruel set of conditions. The film, directed with intelligence and heart by Penny Marshall, is based on a famous 1972 book by Oliver Sacks , the British-born New York neurologist whose (ital) The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat (unital) is a classic of medical literature. These were his patients, and the doctor in the film, named Malcolm Sayer and played by Robin Williams , is based on him.

What he discovered in the summer of 1969 was that L-DOPA, a new drug for the treatment of Parkinson's Disease, might in massive doses break the deadlock that had frozen his patients into a space-time lock for endless years. The film follows some 15 of those patients, particularly Leonard, who is played by Robert De Niro in a virtuoso performance. Because this movie is not a tearjerker but an intelligent examination of a bizarre human condition, it's up to De Niro to make Leonard not an object of sympathy, but a person who helps us wonder about our own tenuous grasp on the world around us.

The patients depicted in this film have suffered a fate more horrible than the one in Poe's famous story about premature burial. If we were locked in a coffin while still alive, at least we would soon suffocate. But to be locked inside a body that cannot move or speak -- to look out mutely as even our loved ones talk about us as if we were an uncomprehending piece of furniture! It is this fate that is lifted, that summer of 1969, when the doctor gives the experimental new drug to his patients, and in a miraculous rebirth their bodies thaw and they begin to move and talk once again, some of them after 30 years of self-captivity.

The movie follows Leonard through the stages of his rebirth. He was (as we saw in a prologue) a bright, likeable kid, until the disease took its toll. He has been on hold for three decades. Now, in his late 1940s, he is filled with wonder and gratitude to be able to move around freely and express himself. He cooperates with the doctors studying his case. And he finds himself attracted to a the daughter ( Penelope Ann Miller ) of another patient. Love and lust stir within him for the first time.

Dr. Sayer, played by Williams, is at the center of almost every scene, and his personality becomes one of the touchstones of the movie. He is shut off, too: by shyness and inexperience, and even the way he holds his arms, close to his sides, shows a man wary of contact. He really was happier working with those earthworms. This is one of Robin Williams' best performances, pure and uncluttered, without the ebullient distractions he sometimes adds -- the schtick where none is called for. He is a lovable man here, who experiences the extraordinary professional joy of seeing chronic, hopeless patients once again sing and dance and greet their loved ones.

But it is not as simple as that, not after the first weeks. The disease is not an open-and-shut case. And as the movie unfolds, we are invited to meditate on the strangeness and wonder of the human personality. Who are we, anyway? How much of the self we treasure so much is simply a matter of good luck, of being spared in a minefield of neurological chance? If one has no hope, which is better: To remain hopeless, or to be given hope and then lose it again? Oliver Sacks' original book, which has been reissued, is as much a work of philosophy as of medicine. After seeing "Awakenings," I read it, to know more about what happened in that Bronx hospital. What both the movie and the book convey is the immense courage of the patients and the profound experience of their doctors, as in a small way they reexperienced what it means to be born, to open your eyes and discover to your astonishment that "you" are alive.

Roger Ebert

Roger Ebert was the film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, he won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism.

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Film credits.

Awakenings (1990)

Rated PG-13

121 minutes

Robert De Niro as Leonard Lowe

Robin Williams as Dr. Malcolm Sayer

Julie Kavner as Eleanor Costello

Ruth Nelson as Mrs. Lowe

John Heard as Dr. Kaufman

Penelope Ann Miller as Paula

Alice Drummond as Lucy

Directed by

• Penny Marshall

Writer (book)

• Oliver Sacks
• Steven Zaillian

Cinematographer

• Miroslav Ondricek
• Battle Davis
• Gerald B. Greenberg
• Randy Newman

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Ethical Analysis of the Awakenings Film

The medical drama Awakenings (1990) is based on a real-life event. The movie focuses on Dr. Oliver Sacks’ work treating people with catatonia, a disorder marked by excessive stiffness and a lack of responsiveness to stimuli. Dr. Sacks began administering L-dopa, a medication generally used to treat Parkinson’s disease, to his patients after speculating that an underlying illness may bring on the condition.

Several parts of the movie demonstrate the use of utilitarianism theory. According to utilitarianism, it is possible to determine what is morally right or wrong by evaluating which potential future behaviors would best promote goodness in personal lives and others (Dimmock & Fisher, 2017). One such incident is when Dr. Sacks asks his superiors for permission to administer L-dopa to his patients. He contends that using the medication is in his patients’ best interests since the possible advantages outweigh the dangers. He is happy to see that the medication is improving their health and that he can assist them in regaining some quality of life. Overall, the movie Awakenings emphasizes how the utilitarian ethical theory might be advantageous when used to improve medical care. The idea may be applied to defend taking chances to advance a larger good, and it can be used to evaluate a treatment’s efficacy by considering patients’ favorable results.

The narrative of Awakenings emphasizes the significance of moral conduct in the medical industry. Throughout the movie, Dr. Sayer, the main character, exemplifies compassion, empathy, and endurance, among other characteristics. They are all indispensable components in the Kantian Virtue ethics that consider promoting such qualities as primary guidance for morally right decisions (Dimmock & Fisher, 2017). Dr. Sayer’s commitment to treating his patients shows his compassion. He is heartbroken by their plight and motivated to devise a solution to assist them. By attempting to comprehend their experiences and giving them the finest treatment possible, he demonstrates empathy for his patients.

Additionally, he perseveres in the face of obstacles like the difficulty in treating his patients and the skepticism of his colleagues. Dr. Sayer treats his patients successfully as a result of his moral behavior. He can assist them in overcoming their illness and enhancing their quality of life. These scenes underscore the importance of moral behavior in the medical industry since it can result in favorable patient outcomes.

Dimmock, M., & Fisher, A. (2017). Ethics for A-level . Open Book Publishers.

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Awakening Movie Review

This review will assess the film “Awakenings,” based on the true story of a doctor’s use of an experimental drug to ‘awaken’ patients from catatonic states. It will discuss the film’s portrayal of medical challenges, patient-doctor relationships, and the emotional journeys of the characters. PapersOwl offers a variety of free essay examples on the topic of Film Review.

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In “Awakening”, a number of sociological issues about life and human interactions are analyzed in depth. Dr. Sayer, due to his empathy and altruism, dedicates his work to the identification of a means of communicating with his catatonic patients. He eventually succeeds, albeit temporarily, and is able to help his patients emerge from their half-conscious condition using an experimental drug. Leonard Lowe, one of his patients, manages to stand out from the rest, adjusting to a normal life after spending more than thirty years in a catatonic state.

Gradually, he starts to develop higher-level needs and forms relationships with those around him as the drug begins to take effect. However, he must also navigate the negative stigma associated with people who grapple with mental health issues, and he aggressively seeks permission to walk outside unaided. Through his interactions with his patients, Dr. Sayer overcomes his inherent shyness, while the hospital staff learns to treat the patients with more respect. Brief Summary of the Storyline “Awakenings” focuses on the work of Dr. Sayer, a consulting physician working in the Bronx area who specializes in the treatment of patients in a near vegetative state. His patients are unable to interact with other people in the usual way, which prompts Dr. Sayer to identify special ways of communicating with them. He carries out research that determines his patients can respond to certain actions and events, which can aid in providing more information about the patient and their perspective of life. He, however, meets Leonard Lowe, who seems unresponsive to most stimuli, but eventually responds to an ouija board. While attending a conference on drugs for patients dealing with psychological complications, he identifies a drug that he believes can be effective for his group of patients and proceeds to test it on Leonard Lowe. The drug works as intended, leading to the awakening of the patient. Sayer then asks for financial aid to help procure the drug for all his patients and awaken them from their half-conscious state. Leonard recovers quickly from the condition and is able to form good relationships with those around him. However, he feels constrained by the hospital and asks for the chance to leave as he pleases. He eventually confronts Sayer and other hospital staff, demanding more freedom. During this confrontation, Sayer discovers that the drug examined on the patients has temporary effects, as Leonard starts showing signs of remission. Despite this, Sayer still pursues his goal of getting funding for the drug. The awakenings experienced by the patients have a profound effect on their lives, as well as the lives of Sayer and the nurses dealing with the patients. “Psychological Themes, Issues, and Concepts in the Film” The movie accurately analyzes the changing needs that people undergo in their lives. While in a vegetative state, Leonard did not need much other than food and rest. After receiving the medication, Leonard regained his ability to move and speak, and soon his needs changed. He began to desire higher-level needs such as friendship and belonging, and soon formed relationships with those around him. Eventually, he needed more freedom, which led him to confront Sayer and other hospital staff about his ability to leave the hospital as he pleased. The film also highlights the toll that psychological conditions have on patients. Patients portrayed in the film are in a catatonic state, unable to speak or interact with other people in a normal way. Leonard Lowe, for example, deals with the condition for thirty years and is only able to get temporary relief when Sayer provides him with the trial medication. Leonard Lowe essentially lost the best years of his life because of this condition, as evidenced by the opening scene that depicts him as a young person, and other scenes throughout the film which depict him in his current state. Life-affirmation is also a key psychological theme explored in the film. Dr. Sayer has a positive outlook about the state of his patients and believes they will get better if he administers the right kind of treatment. The patient also feels optimistic and hopeful about his condition after his awakening and does his best to adjust to the life around him. “Sociological Analysis of the Movie” The functioning of human memory is one of the key factors analyzed in the film. Dr. Sayer believes that his patient still has their memories intact despite their catatonic condition. He tests his beliefs by stimulating the memories of his patients using different activities and events that the patient is aware of. He soon discovers that his patients are indeed able to respond to familiar experiences from their memory, irrespective of the state they are currently in. The film also showcases the empathetic and altruistic nature of Dr. Sayer. Despite being somewhat of an introvert and limiting his interaction with people to a minimum, he becomes incredibly empathetic about the condition of his patients and is deeply interested in their recovery. He spends a significant amount of time with them, carrying out experiments designed to stimulate their memories, and convinces other hospital staff that they are still people, despite their conditions. He disagrees with the hospital administration about the administration of trial medication and does his best to assert his position. The film also shows the adjustments that society has to make when dealing with stigmatized groups. Due to their catatonic condition, the patients do not receive a lot of attention from those around them, and they are not considered to be as human as other people would be. It is only after Sayer, through his experiments, discovers their human side that they begin receiving attention from those around them. As a result of his condition, Leonard Lowe feels trapped in the hospital, unable to live his life as he intended. He is unable to reach his full potential, as he believes he can, and asks for help from Sayer and the hospital administration. He requests permission to walk outside without supervision, which seems to mean a great deal to him. This highlights the lack of freedom that characterizes his life due to his condition. He gets angry and frustrated when the hospital refuses to consent to his demands, and decides to confront Sayer. His frustration is justified – he feels confined in his current state and is expressing a natural human instinct to seek freedom. The actual awakenings of the patients also demonstrate the optimism and hope that they, along with Sayer, harboured regarding their condition. From the start, Sayer was optimistic about the health condition of his patients and eventually resorted to an experimental drug to see if it had any impact on their condition. He did this despite the opposition of the hospital administration and medical regulations that would have prevented him from doing so. Remarkably, the trial proved to be successful in Leonard’s case, culminating in substantial progress. The remaining patients, too, brimmed with optimism once they awakened, firm in their belief that they would improve over time. Even after starting to show signs of remission as the drug began to wear off, Leonard maintained his optimism. He urged Dr. Sayer to document his condition, believing it could serve as the foundation for future research and contribute to better treatment options. The film unambiguously foregrounds optimism and hope, refusing to let existing conditions eclipse them. Due to their interaction with patients, both Dr. Sayer and the medical staff in the hospital experience a sociological change in their outlook on life. At the beginning of the film, Dr. Sayer is presented as having a shy personality, a characteristic which changes as the film progresses. After his experience with Leonard Lowe and other patients, he seems to overcome his shyness and even asks Eleanor, a nurse working at the hospital, out. The nurses at the hospital also learn to empathize with the patients more as a result of their brief interaction with them while the effects of the drug were still in place. New Insights from Research Sources According to Clapper (2010), the film presents an accurate analysis of the psychological condition that characterizes catatonia, as well as the impact that the experimental drug would have on a patient. An analysis of data about real patients who have suffered from this psychological condition revealed that they exhibited similar characteristics to those depicted in the film. The effect that the experimental drug had on the patients was also accurate, mirroring the real-life situation. L-Dopa, the drug used in the film, has indeed been found to reduce the severity of certain psychotic conditions, including Parkinson’s disease. Due to the fact that both the medical condition and the drugs used in the film are real and accurately portrayed, it can be concluded that the psychological reactions and issues shown in the film are also accurate and depict what would happen in a real-life scenario. According to Allan (2007), the awakenings depicted in the film, as adapted from the original book, are accurate. Real-life patients who suffered from the medical condition depicted in the film ended up developing a psychotic condition that left them in a catatonic state. After the administration of L-Dopa, the same drug that is described in the film, patients dealing with the condition became more optimistic about the future and showed a variety of sociological responses, including the desire to lead a normal life as well as experiencing happiness and an increased level of interaction with others. The effects of the drug were, however, short-lived; over time, it wore off, as did the sociological responses that had been recorded by the patients. This highlights the limitations that people dealing with psychotic conditions have to deal with, as shown by the temporary relief created by the drug. According to Pathiraja (2012), Dr. Sayer’s altruism and empathy led him to commit unethical medical acts, some of which are illegal. Dr. Sayer decides to test the effects of the drug on his patients despite not having research evidence of its efficacy. He administers the drugs without knowledge of what they would do to the patients, which is unethical and in some cases, illegal. Conclusion. “Awakenings” explores key psychological themes about the effects that most psychological conditions have on patients. As the psychological condition they are dealing with wears off, patients slowly regain the ability to live a normal life and interact effectively with those around them. Their needs also transition from lower to higher level ones as they are able to engage more with others. The film also examines the impact of empathy and altruism and the extent to which it can serve as a motivating factor. Dr. Sayer disregards medical rules in order to aid his patients in managing their conditions. References Allan, C. (2007). Awakenings. British Medical Journal,, 334(7604), 1169. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1885331/ Clapper, A. (2010). Accuracy of The Film Awakenings. Andrew’s Online Journal. Retrieved from http://socrates8181nc.tripod.com/id5.html Pathiraja, C. K. (2012). Criticism on medical ethics based on the movie ‘Awakenings’ by Penny Marshall. Retrieved from http://medicine.kln.ac.lk/depts/foremed/images/SSC/P_P_M_C_K%20Pathiraja%20Chaminie.pdf

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