Dr. Malcolm Sayer, a shy research physician, uses an experimental drug to "awaken" the catatonic victims of a rare disease. Leonard is the first patient to receive the controversial treatment. His awakening, filled with awe and enthusiasm, proves a rebirth for Sayer too, as the exuberant patient reveals life's simple but unutterably sweet pleasures to the introverted doctor.
"There is no such thing as a simple miracle."
Top Billed Cast
Robert De Niro
Leonard Lowe
Robin Williams
Malcolm Sayer
John Heard
Dr. Kaufman
Julie Kavner
Eleanor Costello
Penelope Ann Miller
Paula
Ruth Nelson
Mrs. Lowe
Max von Sydow
Peter Ingham
Anne Meara
Miriam
Detailed Critic & Audience Reviews
W WuchakVerified TMDB Critic
2020-01-01
***A ‘hospital film’ with Robin Williams and Robert De Niro, based on a true story***
A shy doctor (Robin Williams) gets a job at a Bronx hospital in 1969 where he attends to several patients in a catatonic state after the encephalitis epidemic of 1917–28. He experiments with a new drug that offers the hope of reviving them. Robert De Niro plays his key patient, Julie Kavner his nurse and John Heard his supervisor. Penelope Ann Miller is also on hand as a potential romantic interest.
"Awakenings” (1990) is based on Oliver Sacks' 1973 memoir of the same name, which chronicled the ...
J JJ RosalesVerified TMDB Critic
2026-10-24
De Niro deserved his nomination for this… Robin Williams should’ve been nominated as well.
This wasn’t a thick pour of emotion but a slow build of ominous hope. When the crash comes, it doesn’t hit as hard as I thought it would but seeing the journey Leonard went on made it hard.
Ominous hope sums up this movie, but isn’t that the struggle in every day life?...
