This movie is a ripoff of the movie Charlie, except this time instead of one Charlie there's an entire ward full of Charlies. The movie does have a certain charm, but in total the story is contrived and is heaped in sentimentality. The acting is good, but the story is engrossed in wishful thinking and the principal characters are stereotypes. There is the sensitive doctor (played by Robin Williams), the long-suffering patient (played by Robert De Niro), the concerned relatives, the skeptical doctor, the nice orderlies, the supportive nurses, the eccentric patients - all hokey, all contrived, none believable. Literary license if given free reign in this transparent attempt to evoke audience response. Absent in this movie are the day-to-day mundane, yet critical, routines that characterize health care, especially in large institutions. Nor does the movie deal with the ethical or clinical implications of the kind of distorted doctor-patient interactions or of the medical experimentation depicted in this movie. This movie is another attempt by Hollywood to dramatize a topical issue - in this case medical ethics. The results are mixed. Nevertheless, given the nature of the story, which is about a doctor truly wanting to do something good, and failing, it is worth watching.
Review of Awakenings
