Awakenings

1990 • 2h 0m •

Drama

MOVIEVIBE Rating

★ 7.8/10

2,951 reviews

Your Rating

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 Wuchak Verified 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 ...