Awakenings
			Dir: Penny Marshall Starring: Robert De Niro, Robin Williams, John Heard, Julie Kavner, Penelope Ann Miller and Max Von Sydow.
				Awakenings is the moving story of Dr Malcolm Sayer (Robin Williams) who takes a job at Bainbridge Hospital, where he discovers a group of forgotten survivors of an earlier sleeping sickness epidemic, a virus that turned its victims into living statues.  Dr Sayer is particularly drawn to one of these victims, Leonard Lowe (Robert De Niro) and testing an experimental drug he discovers a vital clue to 'awaken' Leonard and the others to the joys and pains of living.  The patients all have trouble adjusting to life 30 years on from where they were before they fell asleep, but the cure is not all is seems. I don't know about you but when I see the words "based on a true story" preceding a film I dread what is to follow, so this film was a pleasant surprise.  Robert De Niro's performance as one of the awoken patients is wonderful, yes the film is sentimental, but it is not overly so.  Robin Williams is superbly cast as the doctor who has to fight the establishment for the rights of these forgotten victims. This film is well shot and with an above average script, but it is the performances of all the actors that holds this film together and stops it from getting too sickly sweet, and in a break from tradition for these "true story" films, there is no happy ending for the patients.  Yes some of the tale is obviously Hollywood creation, but the majority of what is shown and presented to us is factually based. I thoroughly enjoyed this film and would recommend it to all. A slightly sentimental 5 out 5