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Awakenings

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Awakenings is a 1990 American drama film about the victims of an encephalitis epidemic many years ago who have been catatonic ever since, but now a new drug offers the prospect of reviving them.

Directed by Penny Marshall. Written by Steve Zaillian, based on Oliver Sacks' book of the same name.
There is no such thing as a simple miracle.

Dr. Sayer

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  • I'm not very good with people. I like them. I wish I could say I had more than a rudimentary understanding of them. Maybe if they were less unpredictable...
  • Awkward turtles make weird babies.
  • I'm sorry, if you were right, I would agree with you.
  • What we do know is that, as the chemical window closed, another awakening took place; that the human spirit is more powerful than any drug and that is what needs to be nourished: with work, play, friendship, family. These are the things that matter. This is what we'd forgotten. The simplest things.
  • His gaze is from the passing of bars so exhausted, that it doesn't hold a thing anymore. For him, it's as if there were thousands of bars and behind the thousands of bars no world. The sure stride of lithe, powerful steps, that around the smallest of circles turns, is like a dance of pure energy about a center, in which a great will stands numbed. Only occasionally, without a sound, do the covers of the eyes slide open-. An image rushes in, goes through the tensed silence of the frame- only to vanish, forever, in the heart.

Leonard Lowe

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  • Hello. My name is Leonard Lowe. It has been explained to me that I've been away for quite some time. I'm back.
  • Read the newspaper. What does it say? All bad. It's all bad. People have forgotten what life is all about. They've forgotten what it is to be alive. They need to be reminded. They need to be reminded of what they have and what they can lose. What I feel is the joy of life, the gift of life, the freedom of life, the wonderment of life!

Mrs. Lowe

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  • When my son was born healthy, I never asked why. Why was I so lucky? What did I do to deserve this perfect child, this perfect life? But when he got sick, you can bet I asked why! I demanded to know why! Why was this happening?

Lucy

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  • I can't imagine being older than 22. I've no experience at it. I know it's not 1926. I just need it to be.

Dialogue

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Dr. Sayer: [about the catatonic patients] What's it like to be them? What are they thinking?
Dr. Peter Ingham: They're not. The virus didn't spare the higher faculties.
Dr. Sayer: We know that for a fact?
Dr. Peter Ingham: Yes.
Dr. Sayer: Because?
Dr. Peter Ingham: Because the alternative is unthinkable.
Leonard Lowe: It's quiet.
Dr. Sayer: Yes, everybody's sleeping.
Leonard Lowe: I'm not asleep.
Dr. Sayer: [smiling] No. You're awake.
Beth: [chasing her patient] Miriam! I have to take your blood pressure!
Miriam: I've been sitting still for 25 years. You missed your chance.
Margaret: Miriam, there's no easy way to tell you this, so - your husband - he was granted a divorce from you in 1952.
Miriam: Oh, thank God!
Anthony: [cheerfully] How's it going?
Frank: How's it going?
Anthony: Yeah, how do you feel?
Frank: Well, my parents are dead. My wife is in an institution. My son has disappeared out west somewhere. I feel old and I feel swindled, that's how I feel.
Leonard Lowe: We've got to tell everybody. We've got to remind them. We've got to remind them how good it is.
Dr. Sayer: How good what is, Leonard?
Leonard Lowe: Read the newspaper. What does it say? All bad. It's all bad. People have forgotten what life is all about. They've forgotten what it is to be alive. They need to be reminded. They need to be reminded of what they have and what they can lose. What I feel is the joy of life, the gift of life, the freedom of life, the wonderment of life!
Mrs. Lowe: My son is in pain! Please, stop this!
Dr. Sayer: He's fighting, Mrs. Lowe.
Mrs. Lowe: He's losing.
Dr. Sayer: You told him I was a kind man. How kind is it to give life, only to take it away?
Eleanor: It's given to and taken away from all of us.
Dr. Sayer: Why does that not comfort me?
Eleanor: Because you are a kind man. Because he's your friend.

Cast

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