#002 Awakenings (1990)

       "A good movie should show changes or transformation of the character at the end of the story. The character should not be the same as compared to the beginning. There must be something happened and change the character." 

       Well, I do not remember it word-by-word, of course. But these were what I captured in the class after watching Awakenings (1990). I would agree with the statement as true enough to see transformations in every good stories, including Awakenings. 

       Dr Malcolm Sayer is a physician in a hospital in The Bronx. He was a neurologist before that, knowledgeable, determined and kind, but shy and remain minimum interaction with people. The first scene that I could capture and tell Dr Sayer's interaction with people was the job interview in the hospital, when he asked "People? You mean living people?" (working with living people)

"People? You mean LIVING people?"

"Abuden?"
(my secret reply in the heart to Dr Sayer ><)

       There were few scenes later emphasized more about Dr Sayer's characteristics, especially the interaction with Paula, the nurse. Paula may had hint Dr Sayer for a date, but Dr Sayer was just too shy to handle it. Let's stop with his shyness, I was attracted by Dr Sayer's determination to his new findings in treatment on encephalitis lethargica. As I put myself into Dr Sayer's shoes, I wonder how this man feel when his finding was rejected at the first place. He was so firm on his stand instead of pulling back after the feedback of the authority, and I love the quote "If you were right, I would agree with you". Then he found a drug (L-Dopa) that may be helpful to his patients, with careful research and boldness to experiment, this man who used to be quiet approached to chemists, authorities, patient's family, donors and sponsors to voice up his inferences. I could feel his struggle everytime he asked the pharmacist to increase the dosage of drugs which seemed no result in early stage, his hurt feeling when no one bothered to listen to him, yet, he still persistent and move on. This made me came across to the question: What makes him to keep the motivation and continue to work on his yet-to-be-recognized-treatment? 

       Based on Victor Vroom's Expectancy Theory, it is proposed that people are motivated to make certain choices and decisions according to their expected outcomes and perceived value of the outcomes or rewards (Lim & Daft, 2004). This may can explain Dr Sayer's persistence on his findings, risk-taking decision and behaviors in the trials and overcomes his limitations on social skills in order to find out the treatment for encephalitis lethargica. I believed Dr Sayer viewed the expected outcome, which was a treatment for encephalitis lethargica (uncured disease), as rewarding because it not only is a breakthrough in neurology, but also guaranteed many of the patients could be cured from suffering in encephalitis lethargica. As he was carrying out the treatment and observation with Leonard, his first patient who accepted the first trial of L-Dopa drug consumption and "awake" from statue state, this social or human interaction created bond and closeness between them and may also increase the perceived value of reward in Dr Sayer that the outcome is meaningful to him.

       However, the effect of the drug showed temporary measure, limitations and side effects after a short period of time. When the scene showed Dr Sayer announced to the donors and authorities about L-Dopa's short effect, I believed it was hard for a person to accept the fact that something you worked so hard and started to have some results, but it turned down at the end, and you have to take responsibility to the failure. Sometimes I find it hard to accept failure in life, especially if I had work on in with blood and sweat, and even harder to admit that "Yes, what I've been done all this while was a waste of time and effort". But I learned how to overcome it as I grow, knowing that God has a beautiful plan for me, each learning (failure) is not a waste of time, but for a better future.

       The scene that gave most significant impact to me was almost to the last scene, Leonard stopped drug consuming and turned back to catatonic state, his mother and hospital staff helped to put him to the bed. A man once so lively and brought impact, now turned back into "sleep". One more message that I could relate to myself was do not take life for granted because life is short, as Leonard mentioned. I once had a serious road accident, I was fainted because I got a hit on my head. The moment I woke up under the bus seats with bloods were all over that spot, I thank God that I am still alive. That night before I went to sleep, I never thought I would pray that I wanted to wake up the next morning, as sleeping and waking up were so natural to us. The next day when I managed to wake up in the morning, I thank God that I can still open my eyes, walk, do things I wanted to do, meet people around me. Just before the accident, I was having quarrel with my mother. Imagine what if I died in the accident, what were the last thing I left to my mum? A fight. A fight that could probably make her regrets and carries it in the rest of her life. And suddenly, I realized nothing is more important than love and forgiveness. That made me questioned myself: Life is short, what are the things that I can leave to the people around me who life need to move on?
Angry with somebody? Feel disappointed? Hey, things and feelings will pass as time goes by, but the scars and impacts last. The relationship is far more important than to win an argument and "face".

       Lastly, a good movie should see transformation in the character, I would say Dr Sayer and other hospital staffs were changed after the "awakening" and "sleep back" of the patients. So, if this applies to reality, in order to live a good and meaningful life and have good life story, our stories should come with transformations in you and I, shouldn't we?



Reference
Lim, G. S. & Daft, R. L. (2004). The leadership experience in Asia. Singapore: Thomson Learning.

Pictures from Google
https://www.google.com/search?q=awakenings+1990+job+interview+scene&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiU1tvSoLzKAhWNBY4KHYreAjsQ_AUICCgC&biw=1366&bih=667#imgrc=H2opzcyNFZvusM%3A

#001 Cinema Paradiso (1988)

       Like any other happening small village, Giancaldo filled with people with different ages, personalities, families, jobs, status and background. Children went to school, the men worked hard to support the household, women generally stayed or worked at home, the rich ones separated themselves with the poor ones, the poor ones sometimes talked bad about the rich ones... It was few years after war. However, there was one place could unite all the villagers, whether young or old, male or female, rich or poor, they love this place- Cinema Paradiso, the only cinema in the village at that time.

       Throughout the film, I would like to highlight the relationship between Alfredo, the old projectionist of the cinema, and Salvatore, one who loves film since he was a small boy- Fatherly Love.

Alfredo and Salvatore

       Salvatore (nickname Toto), a little kid stayed with his mother and little sister who the father was absent in life due to World War II. His friendship with Alfredo started in the cinema, as Toto always requested Alfredo to give him the deleted scene film as his collection. Alfredo did not like Toto and always forbid Toto from the projection room at first, but eventually letting him in to watch film from the projection room and taught him how to control the projectors. Other than his school friends, Toto spent most of his time in the projection room with Alfredo. He learned not only how to control the film projectors, but also life lessons from Alfredo as a father figure. Alfredo on the other hand, also treated Toto like his son.

       Alfredo served as a substitute paternal-attachment figure to Toto. The strong attachment between Toto and Alfredo provided Toto a secure base to explore the world (Bowlby, 1988; Kochanska, Coy & Murray, 2001). Alfredo always gave his wise words to Toto whenever Toto faced with problem: the challenges to be a only person in the town to control the film projectors as a kid, the courage to love and be loved during teenage, the responsibilities as an adult man to protect the country, and at the end, the courage to leave from comfort zone to pursue higher goal and dream.

       Toto had a simple dream: the passion to film and be a film projectionist was sufficient for him. However, as a father figure, Alfredo realized Toto's potential and encouraged him not to get settled and stop the passion by being just a film projectionist who spends the rest of the life in the projection room of cinema in a small village, but learn more outside the village to embrace the passion to film. There was one scene that caught my eyes about Alfredo's fatherly love to Toto, the goodbye-scene at the platform where Alfredo had the last word for Toto and asked him never come back to Giancaldo.

I believed that it was hard for both Alfredo and Toto, with the close relationship, to separate. In order to make Toto feel less reluctant to the place (or perhaps to Alfredo), Alfredo used hard words and in certain level chase away Toto to get on the train to leave the village and never come back again. Maybe at that moment Toto was sad and could not understand why Alfredo would treat him that way, but at the end of the movie, he understood that, that was Alfredo's fatherly love towards him to help him became better man with higher achievement.

       Toto definitely loves and treasures his relationship with Alfredo, as a teacher, a friend, a father. He listened to Alfredo, pursued their dream and passion by becoming a successful and famous film director. Without the secure attachment which allowed him to explore the world individually, his life story would probably be different.





ReferencesBowlby, J. (1988). A Secure Base: Parent-Child Attachment and Healthy Human Development. Tavistock professional book. London: Routledge.

Kochanska, G., Coy, K. C., & Murray, K. T. (2001). The development of self-regulation in the first four years of life. Child Development, 72(4), 1091-1111.

Pictures from Googlehttps://www.google.com/search?q=cinema+paradiso&espv=2&biw=1366&bih=667&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjCw5O1rrjKAhVQGo4KHY3fBegQ_AUIBygC#tbm=isch&q=cinema+paradiso+toto+kid+adult&imgrc=PafVifUXK8w39M%3A

https://www.google.com/search?q=cinema+paradiso&espv=2&biw=1366&bih=667&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjCw5O1rrjKAhVQGo4KHY3fBegQ_AUIBygC#tbm=isch&q=cinema+paradiso+toto+kid+adult&imgrc=Tc5Er9PvtB5vkM%3A