Awakenings

Robin Williams plays Dr Malcolm Sayer, a researcher recently appointed to a clinical position in a hospital for chronically ill patients. Amongst his patients are victims of a Sleeping Sickness Epidemic, unble to communicate with the outside world. Making a connection between this illness and Parkinson’s disease, he begins to experiment with a promising new drug. Robert De Niro plays Leonard Lowe, the first patient awakened by the drug, whose marked improvement prompts the hospital board to expand the benefits to other patients. As patients begin to engage in life again and confront the radical changes in themselves and their world, Dr Sayer deals with the emerging side effects. Based upon the book by neurologist Dr Oliver Sacks, who recounted his work with post-encephalitic patients afflicted with ‘Sleeping Sickness’ and his experimental treatment using L-Dopa. Cast also includes John Heard, Julie Kavner, Penelope Ann Miller and Max von Sydow. Screenplay by Steven Zaillian.