Awakenings

1990 • 120 minutes
4.5
206 reviews
84%
Tomatometer
PG-13
Rating
Eligible
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About this movie

Powerfully affecting true-life story of a painfully shy research doctor who takes a job at a Bronx hospital's chronic care ward in 1969 and discovers that his comatose patients still have life inside them. Williams is superb as the doctor, and De Niro is his match as a patient who awakens from a thirty-year coma. © 1990 Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Rating
PG-13

Ratings and reviews

4.5
206 reviews
Dan D
February 11, 2022
Not sure what happened to my comment that I posted two years ago in 2020, but I definitely did post it and do have a screenshot of me posting. So I have no idea what happened to it, its been happening to most of my reviews as well, so I'll just post it again. The Awakening by far is one of the most deep heart felted movies I have ever watched even while writing this you just feel this sensation of sadness but also happiness as if you're on a Rollercoaster of emotions. One moment you're happy for the fight that he had, and how he was finally awakened with that beautiful smile he had, being able to move, checking out the bench he first carved his name, met the love of his life but the other just sadness about how he, himself, knew that it wasn't going to last forever and how he couldn't go for his walk.. the only walk he would've had by himself.. but knew that it was risky. There's honestly so much you can talk about the film, you just have to watch it yourself. I just love it how the girl still kept on visiting him and talking to him that's soul mates right there even I can somewhat relate to what happened in the movie which thank God I fully recovered from but its honestly personal a true fight indeed. You'll never find Doctors like him in this world anymore. One that cares for you, one that believes in you no matter what others say or if he's put down for it, one that has faith in you and if you do its rare. Not just that but I have to say Robert Di Niro and Robin Williams are both incredible actors, superb performances by far the greatest actors of all time especially how they both were so into the character, you can really tell they loved it and how dedicated they were almost as if it was them or how they, themselves, wanted to be like them. This is a true story about inspiration about not giving up no matter what and always fighting the fight that you hope & dream for in order to succeed - the fight of life. What hit me hard was when he wanted to walk to be honest, and how he managed to get the emotions of everyone by calling the Doctor in the middle of the night to tell him that we need to remind the people of this world to take granted of life, not the other way around. To live life, to appericate life as he does since he was locked up for the past 40 years in his own world while also fighting it. God bless Robin Williams... God bless.. Robert Di Niro and Leonard Low... especially the real life doctor where you can tell he truly cared about his patients and guess what? So did the patients themselves where they would even remind the Doctor to take care of himself. Another thing that made me deeply emotional is how he couldnt read anymore, and how he just wanted to take life granted. To exprience things on his own without there having to be someone there to monitor him so that he can feel the world that he always wanted to feel especially the girl he loved most... and the doctor he truly thanked. So many countless moments that you can talk about that hit your heart spot on. God bless all these patients, the doctors, Lennard and how nobody knew that even Robin Williams would suffer from a similar disease. It was also his favorite movie to act in since the human brain is just awe & extraordinary same thing with Robert Di Niro. You just have to watch the movie and apperciate what the doctor did to all these patients. Speechless right now, you ever have that feeling where you just can't describe it almost as if its a bundle of emotions of joy, sadness, happiness and etc? Because that's what I'm expressing right now. My favorite movie indeed & the best movie ever. Like my motto has been since I was kid live life to the fullest and always celebrate the day like its your last. 💙💙💙💙💙💙💙
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ᴇ. ᴅ.
December 27, 2020
Watched this back in the summer but What a great movie, done by two legendary actors. This film was said to be Williams top favourite film he enjoyed being apart of, same thing for De Niro. The film literally touches your heart, and teaches you the value of life and how many people take it for granted. God bless Williams and Oliver Sacks. Two heros in a better place now. It's also amazing how Williams a few years later would battle a similar brain trauma/disease. Theres no words that can fully describe this movie. Astonishing. I could say the part that hit me the most was when Leonard had said he couldn't read anymore, and how he told his lover that it was his final time seeing her, like holy there is so much that could be said about the film, just you can't describe it, you can only see the film for yourself. God bless Williams, Sacks and all those patients who had suffered, and battled. Legends. Such an under-rated film.
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ELIYAHU DANIYELS (IVRIYDRKKNGHT490)
June 21, 2016
Great Moral of an often forgotten reality. Excellent narrative of the human experience, and the vantage point of the Total Man. A grave reminder that we're only human but also the glory of humanity. This tale also beckons the renowned question of the ages.... What is man that G-D is mindful of him? or the Son of Man that EL-HIM visits him. Excellent performances by Williams and De Niro respectively. However, the most important thing for me was Robin Williams description of the reality of a Miracle, "We don't know what went right, anymore than we know what went wrong, but we know that the human spirit needs to be nourished." I think that's the closest description of a Miracle that Hollywood is going to get, and a Central Truth at the same time. Above all else; we are ever reminded that the one thing that we possess, and must "By Any Means Necessary," protect from any form of dispossession, is our spirit.
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