Awakenings Review

 Number 575 on the top 1000 films of all time is Penny Marshall's 1990 drama 'Awakenings.'

Dr Malcolm Sayer (Robin Williams) is a researcher at a hospital in the Bronx. He has a whole contingent of catatonic patients including Leonard Lowe (Robert De Niro.) Dr Sayer begins treating Leonard and the others with an experimental drug. While the results are initially promising, things start to quickly go wrong.

I've seen Robert De Niro in a number of roles from taxi driver to gangster to boxer to cross-dressing pirate, but Leonard has to be his best role. Leonard is a character who has been catatonic for the last thirty years. Upon his awakening, he has to relearn how to walk, speak and function as everybody else does. He even becomes a Randle McMurphy character when he tries to gain more rights and freedoms for he and his fellow patients. In some sense, he almost acts as their Messiah.

Leonard is an empowering character and, despite his many disabilities, is never one to be pitied. And all of this is down to De Niro's excellent portrayal. He brought humanity and vulnerability to a role that could have been little more than a gross caricature. But he was also brave enough to show the severity of Leonard's Parkinson's. Rather than shy away, he embraced the role. And he forced the audience to realise how badly people like Leonard suffer. 

It took courage to play a character like Leonard. Penny Marshall was equally courageous to direct such a film. I work with the mentally ill and I know how terrifying they can seem for some people. They function as an uncomfortable reminder of our own mortality. It is all too tempting to lock these people away. Out of sight. Out of mind.

Speaking of courage, we have to talk about Robin Williams as the brave Dr Sayer who never gave up on his patients. For a comedic actor, he does drama damn well. He deserves just as much praise as De Niro. In fact, I was surprised that only De Niro received an Oscar nod. They surely both deserved Oscar nominations.

Nevertheless, this was a triumphant film that tells a very brave story. Just because somebody has a mental illness doesn't mean they should be treated as any less of a person.