Awakenings 1990

7.8/10

Overview
Plot
Related Movies & Shows

NETFLIX Rating : 3.9

IMDB Rating : 7.8

FD Smart Rating : 7.8

Synopsis : When a neurologist tests an experimental drug on a catatonic patient, he must come to grips with life as an adult as he awakens from a 30-year coma.

Directors:

Penny Marshall

Actors:

Ruth Nelson , Max von Sydow , Barton Heyman , Robin Williams , Judith Malina , Alice Drummond , Julie Kavner , Robert De Niro , John Heard , Penelope Ann Miller

Languages:

French , English , Spanish , Brazilian Portuguese , Italian , German , English [Original] , Polish , Turkish , European Spanish

Subtitles:

English , French , Spanish , Brazilian Portuguese , Italian , Arabic , German , Hungarian , Russian , Dutch , Turkish , Greek , Polish , Swedish , Danish , Finnish , Romanian , Indonesian , Simplified Chinese , Traditional Chinese , Hindi , European Spanish , Ukrainian , Vietnamese , Portuguese , Swahili

Genres:

Biography, Drama

Release Date:

1990

Run Time:

2h0m

Maturity Rating:

adult content and adult language

1969. Dr. Malcolm Sayer is hired as a clinical physician at a psychiatric hospital in the Bronx, despite he only having a research background. The job is not ideal on his side as he has difficulties relating to people which is the reason he has focused on research projects not involving human subjects, while the hospital hires him somewhat out of desperation in not finding anyone else with the qualifications who wants the job. Most of his patients are in a semi-catatonic state and are housed in what some of the orderlies coin the 'garden' ward, where all they can do for the patients is water and feed them. He notices that some of the patients, despite their generally catatonic state, respond in unusual ways to certain stimuli. In doing some research, he also finds that some common bonds between these patients are that they suffered from encephalitis in the 1920s or 1930s, and that their physical states are like they have Parkinson's disease frozen in time. As such, he is able to convince, albeit reluctantly, his skeptical boss, Dr. Kaufman, to administer an expensive experimental drug therapy on only one patient with family consent. That patient is forty-one year old Leonard Lowe, who has been in his current state since he was eleven years old, and who has been supported by his loving mother through all these years. As the drug therapy 'awakens' Leonard, there are several issues that come into play. Malcolm has to try and convince Kaufman and the hospital administration to extend the therapy to the other patients. Despite not knowing the long term effects, Leonard, who was aware of his surroundings through his catatonic state, may have mixed emotions about his situation, wanting both to be treated as human being and an experiment guinea pig to ensure that what is happening benefits him and others in the long run. Mrs. Lowe may be unprepared for the new Leonard, she expecting who she remembers as a sweet eleven year old boy. Through all these issues, what may be the most illuminating issue for Malcolm is the need to stimulate the human spirit, including his own in dealing with people around him.