Awakenings-The Neurologist Coming Into the Picture: The Beginnings of Neurology on Screen (IV)

The film Awakenings (adapted from Oliver Sacks' book with the same title) introduced the audience to a ravaging epidemic that left patients in an unresponsive, sleep-like, and helpless state. Awakenings, now marking its 35th anniversary, had a significant historical impact because it presented a stunning reversal after treatment in a neurologic disease. The feature film received 3 Academy Award nominations: Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Actor (Robert De Niro). A 1974 British documentary that formed inspiration for the fictional film has never aired on US television. The documentary introduced Oliver Sacks to the public and showed his patients before and after l-dopa treatment. In the fictional film, the patients are a mix of chronically ill psychiatric patients and those in a frozen, immobile catatonic state. However, much to the surprise of the staff, Dr. Sayer (Robin Williams) shows that they can catch objects and respond to their favorite music. The protagonist is the afflicted Leonard, played by Robert De Niro, who initially shows dramatic improvement in his condition but finally regresses. Awakenings was the first film featuring a neurologist as a leading character. The film also cements the image of the neurologist as a sleuthing, relentless optimist with a trick up his sleeve. This article reviews the British documentary and the subsequent fictional film to judge the historical impact of the neurologic representation in film.