Awakenings

The patients in Penny Marshall’s film are not coma cases. They survived the encephalitis lethargica epidemic of 1919 to 1930 and then sat frozen for decades, and the drug is L-DOPA, familiar from Parkinson’s treatment. That changes the shape: the waking arrives near the middle, and everything after it records the treatment failing rather than building to a cure. The casting runs against type. Robin Williams, the comic presence, plays the withdrawn researcher who never raises his voice; Robert De Niro carries the physical work. De Niro studied footage of real awakenings, and Oliver Sacks, author of the book and credited technical consultant, described seeing De Niro’s foot curl at dinner after shooting. Sacks also said the film sentimentalised and simplified in places. Shooting began 16 October 1989 inside the working Kingsboro Psychiatric Center in Brooklyn, and the credits thank staff and patients at three hospitals. An early five hour cut featuring a real survivor never reached release. At the 63rd Academy Awards it took three nominations and won none: Best Picture, Actor in a Leading Role, and Writing (Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium). A good fit if you accept Williams playing almost entirely inward and a second half that works as a decline diary. Not for anyone wanting the story to stop while the treatment still holds.