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List Price: $9.98Price: $1.39 You Save: $8.59 (86%)Prices subject to change.
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Audience Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Binding: VHS Tape
EAN: 9786302110166
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, NTSC
ISBN: 6302110165
Label: Sony Pictures
Languages: EnglishOriginal LanguageAnalog
Manufacturer: Sony Pictures
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: Sony Pictures
Release Date: June 21, 1994
Running Time: 120 minutes
Studio: Sony Pictures
Theatrical Release Date: December 20, 1990
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Editorial Review:
Amazon.com essential video:
Based on the acclaimed book by neurologist Oliver Sacks, director Penny Marshall's hit 1990 drama stars Robin Williams as Dr. Malcolm Sayer. Sayer is a neurologist who discovers that the drug L-Dopa can be used to "unlock" patients in a mental hospital from the mysterious sleeping sickness that has left them utterly immobilized. Leonard (Robert De Niro) is one such patient who awakens after being in a comatose state for 30 years, leaving Sayer to guide Leonard in adjusting to the world around him. Penelope Ann Miller costars as the daughter of another patient, with whom Leonard falls tenuously in love. Earning Oscar nominations for best picture, actor, and screenplay, this moving fact-based drama was a hit with critics and audiences alike. --Jeff Shannon
Average Rating: 
Rating: -
If ever I feel like I need a good cry (my wife is always saying I am such a girl, but I appreciate the need for emotional release) then this is one of the four or five films I readily reach for (the others being `The Elephant Man', `Million Dollar Baby', `Of Mice and Men' and the mediocre yet emotionally draining `I Am Sam'). If Ron Howard is the king of schmaltz then Penny Marshall is the queen, for she understands, like Howard, how to create a heavy-handed manipulative film feel natural and inviting. This film slides down smooth as can be, despite the fact that each and every frame is designed to antagonize our emotions.
`Awakenings' is based on the book written by neurologist Oliver Sacks. The book is based on the true story of neurologist Malcolm Sayer who discovers that a drug called L-Dopa has the ability to release patients suffering from encephalitis (a sleeplike sickness), unlocking their minds and allowing them to interact with loved ones for the first time in ... Read More
Rating:  -
Awakenings is a depressing film but an important one to watch. Directed by Penny Marshall, Awakenings is based on a true story of patients who have come out of mental illness unscathed, well temporarily of course. Robert De Niro gives the performance of a lifetime and Robin Williams proves he is more than a funny, goofy actor. Penelope Ann Miller is stunning in this film as well, very under-rated actress. Give this '90s tearjerker a viewing, enjoy!
Rating:  -
I think "Awakenings" is a good dramatization of the real life scientific study as presented in the book. But I'm more interested in the scientific story than a dramatazation of it that creates a love interest and basically has Robin Williams playing the role he'd redo in Patch Adams (albeit of course much better in "Awakenings") than actually relive the life of the renowned neurologist Oliver Sacks who is of course fictionalized here and wrote the book. And the portrayal of people with disabilities takes the usual Hollywood stereotypes, they are shuffling zombies who lack humanity, their humanity is restored by a "miracle" (hate that word) drug L-Dopa and then lose it again but there is a hint they were human all along. Well to tell you the truth I know this may blow your mind but having a disability is something we all will experience or may already and all people should be considered human. However, it is true this was a clinical study and its accurate that that is how people are seen ... Read More
Rating: -
Yes, I saw this movie after it was released on VHS back in 1991. This movie wasn't one of Robin Williams' usual fare since comedy films are more his norm. But in this film, he performed well. This film was also different for its other actor, Robert DeNiro. Action films and Tough Guy films were more his norm. But in this film, he played a brain-disorder patient and played him very well.
I once read a chapter in a text book and the events in this film are pretty accurately described in that text book chapter although the film leaves out a couple of fact. The disease suffered by the patients in this film is called Encephalitus Lethargica. And the name of the drug that was used to treat them was called L-dopa, but the text book calls it Levodopa. Of course now if you were to look up encephalitus lethargica on webmd, you'd get only articles about Parkinson's.
But all in all, this was a good film. I would only give it 4 and a half stars, but since half stars cannot be given ... Read More
Rating: -
Based on a true story by the brilliant neurologist and writer, Oliver Sacks, "Awakenings" portrays lives of people who are rendered inert for decades from an earlier brain inflammation, encephalitis, and of the doctor who wouldn't give up on them. Dr. Sacks' books are filled with fascinating accounts of people who live with incredible brain aberrations, and "Awakenings" is no exception. Our own lives are enriched by this glimpse into the lives of human beings such those in this story/film. For human they are, despite their being frozen like statues in a wax museum. Dr. Sayers, played by Robin Williams, works tirelessly (well, actually he works so late that he falls asleep, so I guess he does get tired!) championing the cause of his patients and their treatment with the drug L-dopa, the new "cure" which he has discovered. Leonard, played masterfully by Robert Di Nero, struggles to live a full life again, enabled by the medication. In the process he not only demonstrates the human ... Read More
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