Through these movies, I realized that I take my health for granted. In this life, each person is handed a unique set of cards. I was given a fair set of cards; I am healthy without any disorder. I may not be as tall or fair skinned as I hoped I would turn out when I was younger, but I am perfectly normal health-wise, physically and mentally. However, I cannot say the same for some others.
Through nature and/or nurture, others end up with not so great cards that affect not only the health of the person but also deter his or her overall ability to function regularly. In Awakenings, Leonard and the other patients were victims of an outbreak of encephalitis lethargica which made them catatonic for years through nurture. They were not born with this condition but exposure to something that caused this outbreak to occur. In Lorenzo’s Oil, Lorenzo was born with adrenoleukodystrophy leaving him to be unresponsive as the disease developed. I learned from this that though nature and nurture might influence the development of some of life’s most important functions, they also can lead to detrimental effects on one’s health. I find this rather sad, but sort of realistic. What more can be added to enhance one’s abilities can be extracted from another person, deterring his or her capabilities.
One thing about both movies that moved me was that Dr. Sayer’s patients and Lorenzo seemed to be mentally conscious despite their condition. Though their bodies were unresponsive to the point where the only thing that separated them from inanimate objects was their capacity to breathe and other life sustaining functions, their minds were still present albeit lacking in many functions I and other healthy people can do. Near the end of Lorenzo’s Oil, we see that Lorenzo actually did not want to hear the story his mother was reading to him. Though he couldn’t communicate it properly,
Lorenzo was capable of not liking something. He was capable of regarding something. Thus, what moves me is the fact that these characters cannot be labeled as “vegetables” as I used to see them but still human beings who still functioned cognitively.
Thus, I realized that there certainly is a power of the spirit that cannot be denied. This was the power seen in how the characters in these movies maintained a degree of their consciousness despite their afflictions. This power was also seen in the loved ones of these characters who were born and sustained normal and healthy lives. Dr. Sayer, Leonard’s mother, the nurses in the New York hospital, and Lorenzo’s parents went above and beyond their job descriptions as doctors, parents, and nurses in trying to give Leonard, the other New York patients, and Lorenzo another chance to live normal and healthy lives as was graced upon them. The efforts I witnessed them do reaffirmed my belief that with love, the spirit is capable of doing great things. It really moved me to see these people work themselves to the bone for the people they love, even if the chances of actually succeeding in their endeavors were slim and very uncertain.
This shows a different sense of strength that I am not used to seeing in movies. Their strength was in that their hope and faith in finding a cure for their loved ones seemed to be unwavering. Their efforts often reached the point of being tiresome, not only for them but for the people around them. At one point while watching Lorenzo’s Oil, I remember feeling annoyed with how rigid Lorenzo’s mother was being towards Lorenzo’s home nurses and doctors. This just helped me realize that a mother’s love for her son is undefeatable. Though it can get annoying and bothersome, the love we have for others sometimes cannot be defeated.
However powerful the spirit appeared to be in this movie, it did not prove to be powerful enough to reverse nature completely. The New York patients eventually returned to being catatonic, and Lorenzo eventually died at thirty years old. This is what moved me most of all, as I found it so unfair that the possibility of actually succeeding in gaining their loved ones back was almost in front of them but was never actualized.
I could very much empathize with these characters. I cried when Leonard first appeared conscious to his mother. I understand what it must have meant to lose someone she loved so much and to see them come back was something she probably only imagined before but never thought it would happen. I lost my grandfather, aunt, and a friend when I was in grade 6 and 7, and I often wished I could be with them again, at least one more time. I don’t know what I would do if I was able to share the same experience as Leonard’s mother, but I imagine I would be very happy. To see him become catatonic once again was so painful because it was like losing a loved one a second time. This is possibly even more painful than losing a loved one the first time, because one has to go through the cycle loss once again which is more than should be. The presence of people in my life are like chapters, and chapters are supposed to end only once. Losing them more than once might be too much for me to handle. This just goes to show that some miracles cannot be realized. If they did, nature would be flexible. If nature were flexible, nothing would be stable or constant. Life would be utter chaos.
Watching these two movies was interesting because the lessons I learned in Physiological Psychology class were concretized in my eyes. It also taught me a lot about life and the power of love and spirit in making the impossible almost possible.
by
darkespeon (student)
