Science  People  Locations  Timeline
Index: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Home > Awakenings


Awakenings is a 1990 fact-based film which tells the story of a doctor who in 1969 discovers beneficial effects of the then-new drug L-Dopa on patients who are comatose after surviving the 1917-1928 epidemic of encephalitis lethargica.

It stars Robert De Niro, Robin Williams, Julie Kavner, Ruth Nelson , John Heard and Penelope Ann Miller, and was directed by Penny Marshall.

The movie was adapted by Steven Zaillian from the book of the same name by neurologist Oliver Sacks, in which he tells about his real-life experiences with similar patients. The book was also used by Harold Pinter as the basis of his one-act play A Kind of Alaska, performed in 1982.

The film was nominated for Academy Awards for Best Actor in a Leading RoleThe Academy Award for Best Actor is one of the awards given to people working in the motion picture industry by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences; nominations are made by Academy members who are actors and actresses. The winners are chosen b (Robert De Niro), Best PictureThe Academy Award for Best Picture is one of the awards given to people working in the motion picture industry by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences; the awards are voted on by other people within the industry. As is the customary practice in and Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another MediumThe Academy Award for Writing Adapted Screenplay is one of the Academy Awards, the most prominent film awards in the United States. It is awarded each year to the writer of a screenplay adapted from another source (usually a novel or play). See also the A.

External links

1990 films

Read more »

Non User