Lorenzo's Oil (1992)

Redundant and unnecessary.

Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

LORENZO'S OIL is an interesting film for a few reasons. First, it's based on a true story and second, the director George Miller (MAD MAX) used to be a medical doctor, so this project was probably personal for him in a way that his others weren't. Before someone gets the wrong idea, I do think this is a good film. All of the performances were realistically done, the technical details are all artfully done, and the story itself is highly inspirational. That being said, the film is a bit hard to sit through since you are relentlessly bombarded with scene after scene of a child struggling for his life against a disease that (at the time) wasn't fully understood. There was also a steep learning curve when it came to all of the medical terminology that gets tossed around, although there was some attempt to explain the more fundamental concepts related to the disease at the center of the story. And what a disease! Lorenzo Odone was diagnosed with adrenoleukodystrophy (ALD), a disease that affects how certain fatty acids are processed and leads to serious neurological problems. Keeping in mind that George Miller is a former doctor, the narrative unfolds and is presented in a very clinical fashion, with an acute focus on time. To its detriment, occasionally this bleeds over into the emotional impact of what is happening on screen. While it might be hard not to be moved by much of what is shown and discussed, there was a preparedness and calculation which undermined the more emotional moments (for me, at least). And about a third of the way into the film, after seeing scene after scene of suffering and hearing several cues of Samuel Barber's Adagio for Strings, I just became numb. All of that aside, I thought the film brought up some very important points of discussion, such as how slow the medical establishment moves and the role of compassion in medical care. There are several scenes in which parents of ALD children are pitted against the foundation and doctors simply because they feel things aren't moving fast enough. Still, as the film makes quite clear, there are proper procedures and protocols to be followed. despite the maverick efforts of the Odones to find a cure/treatment for their son's illness at all costs. Hopefully, the less scientifically inclined won't take this film as evidence that parents can just do what they want willy-nilly without regard for established science. To their credit, the Odones did their own research and worked with scientists to develop the titular oil that helped to save their boy's life. Thematically, I think the film's main message can be summed up in the opening quote which, summarized, basically says that living is struggle while the end result is up to a higher power. Maybe the film hammers this a little too hard, what with endless soundtrack cues of choral and symphonic music, but the idea that science and faith don't necessarily have to be diametrically opposed is a compelling one. There are certainly other issues/topics which are touched upon, but I feel like I've covered the most significant ones. While it isn't a perfect movie, and is shameless in its emotional manipulation, in the end it is an uplifting story that I can easily recommend. Just be aware that the journey though it isn't easy.

Really one moving film. About a family who's only child, named Lorenzo suffered a rare disease. As the doctors and medical field after all has failed them. Decides to invent their own miracle. Hence the title.As we see the angst, sadness, and why me of Lorenzo's parents, played by Nick Nolte with an Italian accent and Susan Sarandon. It is Sarandon's Michaela who really suffers the most. As she refuses to leave his son.As Nolte's character a wealthy banker must fund the project. Despite everybody turning him down. For the record, Michaela dies in 2000 and after being told he would die in childhood, Lorenzo would succumb to his own disease eight years later.Still a moving movie and yes, get the tissues out!

Lorenzo's Oil (I gotta finda a cure for mya boy!) (1992)In 1984, Lorenzo Odone was diagnosed with adrenoleukodystrophy (ALD,) in which enzymes that break down saturated fats are defective, and which severely affects myelin in the central nervous system. This resulted in the immediate commitment of his parents, Augusto and Michaela, to find a credible cure for the otherwise fatal disease.The story is the basic retelling of the events, with the occasionally added personal strife's of the parents, who's accuracy has been neither confirmed of denied by the real Augusto or Michaela. The plot has a quite generic outline, but boasts a more or less true story of a boy's disease that is not bombarded with other unnecessary sub-plots, which makes the effort quite admirable. However, there is the sub-plot were we see the physical and emotional decline of Michaela, but this is necessary to the story process because it provides us with good character development for Michaela and Augusto and gives us more insight on what they comprehend throughout the trial. By far the greatest thing about the film is the incredible knowledge of what it's subject matters are. The film takes with great precaution to explain to the viewer each and every procedure they try to the vocabulary that they learned, and exactly how they manage to devise the concoction of "Lorenzo's oil." However, I find aspects like the main antagonistic characters and some of the story to be crammed in the space of 110 minutes. The antagonists of the film seem to fall into the cliché of being overly arrogant and dismissive towards the underdog protagonists who try to help the cause, examples of this shows in the scenes of the APD parent meetings, where the board is unwilling to accept change unless doctoral consensus is advised. Plus there are some scenes at the end that were rushed because of time, we go from age 10 to 14 in only ten minutes, and rushes the progress of the recovery. Now the acting is also impressive, but sometimes can be unintentionally comical. To start off, Susan Surandon is impeccable as the mother, she really puts all of her effort into this role and she pulled off the vigilant motherly character with ease; you could honestly believe she that she genuinely cared for the actor playing Lorenzo. Then we find ourselves with Nick Nolte as the Italian-American father, Augusto. (sigh) Although his effort is noble, you should probably never hire a person from Omaha to play an Italian with a full-on accent. Now granted his performance is not terrible, but there were moments where I had to chuckle under my breath. In conclusion, Lorenzo's Oil is a flawed, but nevertheless enjoyable depiction of the journey to find the "impossible" cure. "Lorenzo's Oil" is a pretty good film, no masterpiece, but decent.See Full review at [email protected]

An inspirational film, great performances by Susan Sarandon and Nick Nolte, both were worth of Academy Award nominations, Sarandon was and Nolte was unfortunately in a very tough crowd of actors that year and didn't make the cut. Still I think it's Nolte's best performance I have ever seen. The film deals with both parents dealing with their child's illness in very different ways but both loving their child equally. The supporting cast does a good job with their material and add to the emotion of the story at a few points. It was great to learn of this being a true story and the information given to the audience right before the credits. I would love to find out some kind of current day update on the situation of things as the film only cover several years afterwords.