#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