Awakenings: a Tale of Medical Discovery and Kindness

As a college student majoring in Psychology, I am vaguely familiar with certain diseases, be it psychological or physical, which affects the human brain. While I did read about encephalitis lethargica (also known as the sleeping sickness) in articles and peer reviewed journals, to see the disease and its symptoms being portrayed in a movie is possibly much easier to remember and definitely much more entertaining than reading about them.

Awakenings (1990) is a Drama/Biography film, based on the book of the same title written by Dr Oliver Sacks, where he wrote about his history with patients who survived the 1920’s encephalitis lethargica epidemic and his discovery of the drug L-DOPA. The film stars Robin Williams as the fictional portrayal of Dr. Oliver Sacks: Dr. Sayer; and Rober De Niro as Leonard Lowe, one of Dr. Sayer's patients and the first patient to be administered the L-DOPA drug during its experimental period. 

In the beginning of the film, we see Leonard Lowe during his childhood. He was a smart, happy boy who had good friends and a good life. Sadly, he had been inflicted by encephalitis lethargica, a viral infection exhibiting symptoms such as fever, uncontrollable tics and paralysis. This very disease changed the boy's life forever, and kick-started the film's major plot-line.

The movie fast forwarded to 1969 and moved its focus onto Dr Sayers; where he found a job as a physician in the local hospital in The Bronx and took care of catatonic patients who were survivors of encephalitis lethargica. Due to the patients’ catatonic state, the hospital staff while cared for their physiological needs didn’t treat them with respect. Going so far as to call the area they put catatonic patients as “The Garden”, as the staff only feed and move the patients, like how gardeners water their plants.   

Dr Sayers later discovered that these patients are not as catatonic and lifeless as they assumed them to be, as they are shown to react to certain stimuli (music, or an item thrown in their direction). Despite the cynicism of the hospital staff (except for one of the nurses), his beliefs didn't waver as he continued his research on the patients. He later went to a conference, where the speaker lecturers about a drug that can help cure Parkinson’s disease, which is L-DOPA. L-DOPA is a synthetic drug that can cross the blood-brain barrier and increase brain dopamine levels as the neurons in the brain convert the drug into dopamine. Dr Sayers, after acquiring Leonard’s mother’s consent, provided the drug to him.

The experiment was a success! Leonard completely awakened from his catatonic state, and was able to walk, talk and perform normal human tasks like any normal human being (albeit a bit clumsy). The drug was later administered to all patients, and they were all awakened. Most of the patients, including Leonard, were initially appalled by the fact that they had missed a huge chunk of their lifetime in a catatonic state, but they later accepted it as they are more grateful to be able to move again.

However, the film did not end at this happy note. Turns out that L-DOPA is not a permanent cure, and its usage is not without its own side effects. While L-DOPA increased dopamine levels in the brain, it did nothing to repair the damage caused by encephalitis lethargica. Side effects of L-DOPA include uncontrollable tics, restlessness, and sometimes delusions and paranoia.

Poor Leonard was the first to be administered L-DOPA, and so he became the first victim to be affected. It began from his encounter with Paula (played by Penelope Ann Miller), the daughter of one of the patients, whom he was romantically attracted by. Both individuals were on good terms, and his desire to be with her contributed to his desire to be free from his patient restrictions and leave the hospital. When the hospital staff (including Dr Sayers) refused, he became agitated, and the side effects of the drug began to show up (uncontrollable tics, paranoia, delusions). The hospital staff and other patients were struck with fear, as they realize that the drug is only a temporary fix, and every patient will become like him.

Eventually Leonard’s unstable emotions had been managed, but his condition worsened despite the doctors increasing the dosage of the drug. Leonard pleaded Dr Sayers to film his symptoms, hoping that the recordings can contribute to medical research and hasten the discovery for an actual cure. Despite the hospital's best efforts, Leonard and the other patients slowly revert back to their catatonic states. In the end of the film, Dr Sayers provided a speech to the donors of the hospital, stating that while the awakening of the patients are temporary, their awakening provided everyone another kind of awakening: the realization of the appreciation of life.

While the story was set in a more serious tone, the comedic legend known as Robin Williams never fail to show his humor over the course of the film through his character. Certain scenes and dialogues played out by his character had been subtly improved by his penchant of invoking hilarity, provided a little lightheartedness to the overall gloomy atmosphere of the film.

One scene that I particularly like was before the film’s ending, where Leonard presumably had one last meetup with Paula, stating that he won’t see her anymore as he return to his catatonic state. But as he stood up (with difficulty due to his tics) to say goodbye, Paula grabbed him and danced with him. During the dance, his tics slowly diminished, and eventually stopped altogether (albeit temporarily), showing the audience the power of love, and how much Paula cared about Leonard.

 

Sure, the power of love might not cure the disease entirely, but it’s sweet nonetheless.

Overall, this film may be a bit boring due to its somewhat slow plot, but informative due to the scientific facts implemented. This film not only provided a good summary of the events that led to the discovery of L-DOPA, it also portrayed certain realistic issues concerning ethics and morality in medical studies. The message of the movie was also very simple yet important: Do not take things for granted. Our ability to move, talk and feel the world around us is a privilege, for there are people who might be so unfortunate to live a life where they are immobile and unfeeling, completely dependent on the care of others.

Be happy with what you have, and cherish it. You never know when it would be taken away from you.