Customer Reviews

Lorenzo's Oil

5 star:		(51)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This is the true life story of the Odone family, Augusto, Michaela, and Lorenzo, and their battle with Adrenoleukodystrophy (ALD), a disease that attacks the central nervous system by systemically destroying its protective cover, the myelin sheath. It is an extremely rare disease that is transmitted exclusively to males through a gene that is carried by the mother.

Augusto, an economist, and Michaela, a linguist, were a well educated, well to do, multi-lingual couple with a little son named Lorenzo who was precocious beyond his years. He spoke English and Italian fluently, as well as the language spoken in the community in Africa in which he spent his very early years. When he returned to the United States at about the age of five, his behavior started to change He came overly aggressive and given to emotional outbursts. After much angst on the part of the Odones over what could be wrong, they were finally told that their son suffered from ALD, which was the functional equivalent of having their son being given a death sentence, as there was no cure for this degenerative disease.

This well educated couple refused to accept the death sentence meted out to their son by the medical establishment. With no medical background, they disregarded conventional medical wisdom and went about trying to find a cure for their son, in a quest so remarkable and so moving, as to inspire absolute awe in the viewer. A more caring or loving set of parents would be hard to find. Lorenzo is surely loved. Together, Augusto and Michaela take on the medical establishment. What they ended up discovering rocked the medical world. To find out just what it was that they specifically did, you will just have to watch the movie.

Director George Miller does a masterful job in directing this film, avoiding the obvious sentimental traps and playing the film out in a very straightforward way. The ravages of this disease are fully played out and are not sugarcoated in any way. Nick Nolte gives a bravura performance as Augusto Odone, though his Italian accent needs a little work. He is superb as the father who transfers his emotion to the task of learning biochemistry in order to ascertain just what factors are at the root of his son's disease. His way of dealing with his son's illness is intellectual and methodical.

Susan Sarandon is sensational as Michaela Odone, a woman of such strength, resolution, and determination that it would be hard to find another like her. Her pain is palpable, as she sees her son deteriorate, but she refuses to take the path of least resistance where Lorenzo is concerned. In the face of daunting odds, she perseveres with Lorenzo, talking to him, as well as stimulating and challenging him. A notable performance is also given by Kathleen Wilhuite who plays the part of Dierdre Murphy, Michaela's sister and Lorenzo's loving aunt.

This is a sensational film that avoids all the maudlin, sentimental traps laid out in the formulaic disease of the week movies one often finds. This is a deftly directed, well acted film, informative and moving. It is a film that will stay with the viewer, long after the credits have rolled off the screen. This is a film that richly deserves a transfer to DVD. Bravo!

This is one of those films that sticks with you... there are scenes and overall themes I will NEVER forget. The real life Odone family, portrayed masterfully by Nick Nolte and Susan Surandon, is far beyond what anyone would refer to as inspiring.

The Odones are a professional power couple. Augusto (Nolte) has adult children from a previous marriage. He and his wife have one child together, young Lorenzo.

Lorenzo had the benefit of being raised by highly intellectual and caring, multi-lingual parents. Since Augusto Odone is a financial wizard for the World Bank, which provides not only a comfortable, but worldly life for the family now small family. Lorenzo grows up in Africa, speaking English and Italian fluently and being fully conversant in the language spoken by his classmates in Africa.

When Lorenzo reaches school age, his parents return to the United States and Lorenzo starts school. Suddenly, a child who has grown up fearless and extroverted with others of all ages and cultures is having emotional outbursts in class and getting into fights.

After it becomes clear that there is a physical reason behind his behavior, not an emotional one, his parents take him to every doctor they can find until they hear that their child has the medical equivalent of a death sentence.

As a financial expert and a linguist, the medically ignorant Odones are faced with a a problem they don't see a solution for. Their child has a rare disease, so rare, it is financially prohibitive for pharmaceutical companies to invest millions and perhaps even billions on developing a cure. The disease, adrenoleukodystrophy, also known as ALD, is inherited by males from their mothers. It begins to rear its head when boys are around 5, destroying the myelin sheath surrounding all nerves, making movement, and even the functioning of the 5 senses slowly disappear.

The Odones cannot cope with the responses they are getting from the medical community - everywhere they turn, the answer is always the same - there is no treatment, there is no cure, and your child will die a horrible death. They refuse to accept defeat sitting down and, the Odones investigate and learn all they can about the disease that is slowly destroying Lorenzo. They soon become experts on the disease and make medical breakthroughs and discoveries not persued by scientists in the past and they soon get attention from the medical community who are in awe of their progress.

I can't say much more without revealing the crux of the story, but this is a film that will inspire anyone who sees it to never quit and not to be defeated when told that what they want to accomplish is impossible.

The film is an emotional rollercoaster, but one you'll never regret viewing, There are films that stick with you for a lifetime and this is one of those films. When you are facing impossible odds and you can't see the light at the end of the tunnel, this is the film to watch... it ignites inspiration and optimism.

In addition to being an inspirational tear-jerker, the performances are incredible. Nolte's performance in this film is one of the best of his career. A stupendous film that isn't all about jerking tears from your head. There are moments when you feel like jumping out of your seat and cheering. This film should be in every family's library.

On 07/20/04, I visited the web site http://www.myelin.org/ and clicked on ABOUT LORENZO & HIS PARENTS where I obtained the following excerpt:

"About Lorenzo, his Parents, and Oumouri
(in answer to the many questions we receive)

Lorenzo celebrated his 25th birthday on May 29, 2003. He is deprived of most of his functions, but his mind is still there. Lorenzo communicates through blinking his eyelids to say no and wiggling his fingers to say yes. He enjoys music and being read to. Lorenzo will not regain his speech or full mobility until we are successful with remyelination.

Michaela succumbed to cancer in June 2000. Augusto, who continues the fight for his son, works out of his office at Myelin Project Headquarters located in Dunn Loring, Virginia, just outside of Washington D.C.

Lorenzo likes to receive mail from his ?friends? and well-wishers. You may write to him c/o The Myelin Project, 2136 Gallows Road, Suite E, Dunn Loring, Virginia 22027."

I encourage you to visit this web site where you can get an update on The Myelin Project, make a donation to
The Myelin Project, read a letter from Augusto Odone dated 02/19/04, and see pictures of Lorenzo, his Parents, and Oumouri.

Lorenzo's Oil's is a remerkable movie. I had heard about this movie, and the desease the little boy, Lorenzo, is effected with before. When i saw this movie for the first time in 1996, i was overwelmed. The movie is excellent, The acting is wonderful, and overall, i think it was a great idea for the movie. i have seen Loreno's Oils so many times, that i have lost track, and have been so inspired and interested in it, that i have chosen to become a doctor because of it (I'm a highschool sophmore). Also, in my Anatomy class, we have to do a 7 page report on the topic that interests us the most, and of course i chose ALD, Lorenzo's desease, and will also be using clips from the movie as part of my presentation. If this movie can make someone actually WANT to write a 7 page research paper, it must be interesting. i sugest anybody interested in the feild of medicine, or any feild for that matter, watch this movie, just once. after that one time, you'll never be able to stop. I promise.

A beautiful film in which Nolte and Sarandon are at their acting best. Lorenzo's Oil is one of the few "based on facts" films that I have watched and felt was worth while in every way. This film is worth watching and I would recommend it to anyone who wants realism put on their screen. This is no sugar-sweet drama but a down-to-earth film about a family who prove that sometimes-ordinary people CAN move mountains. As a point of interest, the elderly English man in the film who manages to create Lorenzo's Oil is in fact playing himself. He is the actual Chemical Engineer who helped the real Adone's in the 1980s and this is a touching tribute to him, as well as to the Adone's tenacity and belief that they could help save their dying son's life. A big thumbs up for this film.

Real-life dramas always hold more weight with me, especially when they are crafted as well as "Lorenzo's Oil." The acting is superb and the drama unfolds very carefully and deliberately. I was immediately drawn in. Having known families torn apart by the illness of a child, for me this film captures the paralyzing grief and sense of helplessness that paralyzes a household, and yet this film gives hope when the family starts to fight back against the disease.

Like Augusto did encountering the disease, I discovered I had learned a great deal just watching the film. I wish more films could be as educational and entertaining at the same time -- a rare breed indeed!

If you haven't shed at least a few tears by the end of the film, I'm worried about you if you can get tear-free through the closing montage of boys who are alive and well because of Lorenzo's Oil. Everytime I see that part, I cry.

Ok, i know what you are thinking. Yes, I do. You are thinking that this is just another movie of a disease struggle similiar to other. Well, its not. Along with a combination of great acting by Nolte and Sarandon, this movie combines the drama of a search for what isn't easily found with amazing accuracy. All of the actors very well play the part of the Odone's, and put emotion into that similiar to what you would find if you spied on them yourself. The drama of the story, the trauma of a disease with no cure and no help, it is just a knock-out. Even the people who play the support group are able to be as snobbish (if not more) than were the people who turned the Odone's down themselves. Do youfrself a favor, buy Lorenzo's Oil today. It deserves 10 stars, not 5!

Lorenzo is now 18 years old and has continued to progress. He now can perform simple actions upon request, such as "pulling his arm across his chest." His parents, Augusto and Michaela Odone, maintain the Myelin Project, a non-profit Foundation which not only reports on current research, but encourages the development of cures for demyelinating diseases like multiple sclerosis and ALD. Their courageous hope is that the combined power of concerned citizens and clinical and laboratory researchers will end these debilitating conditions. There are several avenues of cutting-edge research summarized at the site.

Movie shows how desperate people can be for cures for their medically fragile children. This is a very realistic look at people and how they would react to this kind of crisis.

As a father of a child with autism, I have observed some of the same reactions in the autism community. GOTTA FIND A MIRACLE CURE....GOTTA FIND A MIRACLE CURE!!!!

Acting is excellent in this film...it never got the BIG attention it deserved.

Jeffrey McAndrew
author of "Our Brown-Eyed Boy"

With a heartbreaking real life story of the Odone family, director-producer George Miller created one of the most touching and emotional drama's ever to grace the big screen. With an all star cast, most notably Susan Surandon in her oscar nominated role, he paints a very real picture of grief, pain, struggle and passion as the Odone's cope with the tragic desease that has attacked their son Lorenzo.

Lorenzo was only five when he showed the first symptoms of ALD, a very rare and very deadly desease that attacks your central nervous system by destroying your myelin. It deteriorates your brain at a rapid pace and, in affect, makes you crazy and immoble before taking your life. It's a desease that only manifest's itself in young boys usually between the ages of 5 & 10 and it's given to them only by the mother, for only mothers are carriers. The desease, at the time of this instance which was the early 80's, was not very understood and so there was no hope laid out to the Odone family, just a list of horrible things their son would undergo before his death. His life expectancy alone was only 24 months.

The Odone family, husband Augusto (Nick Nolte) and wife Michaela (Susan Surandon) decide to take matters into their own hands, doing emmence research to find answers to questions, answer none of the scientist and doctors seem to have. No one even knows why this desease does what it does. As the Odone's work and work to find a cure their son steadily gets worse and worse. The Odone's are forced with moral issues as they confront the head's of an ALD support group, grappling the issue of their childrens well-being. The question is raised a few times as to whether it's just or even humane for the parents to try and prolong their childs suffering. Is it selfish to want your child with you always if they are in constant pain? You have two extremes, and this film addresses both of them with equal ammounts of compasion. You have the Odone's who want to save their child, and rightfully so for no one wants to lose thier children, but then you have other families that just want god to end their childs pain, and rightfully so for no one wants their children to suffer.

This is one of the hardest films to watch, especially if you have children for it forces you to contemplate what you would do, and that's not a question you want to ask yourself.

The Odone's were a very brave and very strong couple, who never allowed their situation to get the better of them. Yes, they were human and they went through stages, they were crushed and they were hurt and they were dieing little by little every day as they watched the love of their life deteriorate into nothing, but they held it together for their son. As his condition worsend it appeared as if they would never find answers in time, and as Aususto noted to his wife, all they were doing was probably being done for someone elses child, but that god for that for it's because of them that this desease is better understood and that there is a cure, or at least help.

Lorenzo's oil refers to the oil taken to help balance the bodies distribution of saturated fats that are killing ALD patients. Lorenzo's oil is helping hundreds of children with this horrible desease and it's thanks to this beautiful family who sacrificed everything they had to make sure another family would have the answers they needed!

I wanted to make special note of Susan Surandon's performance here. She completly commanded the screen. I've always loved her and felt that she was one of, if not the best actress we have working today for no matter what the role she takes on she always leaves me stunned. With this performance though I was especially drawn in. She does so much with just the look in her eyes. The scene when the doctor tells them this desease is passed on only through the mother, the look in her face, the fear and guilt and self-loathing in her eyes, you almost want to hold her and tell her it's not her fault. Susan captured the emotions of her charactor PERFECTLY and left me with goosebumps. Now Nolte is another story. He kind of annoyed me. Sorry people, but I'm Italian, and he sounded more Russian than anything else. Bad accent. Anyways, as far as his tortured father went, sometime he was little overboard, but for the most part he did well since he was the more stable more controlled parent who was trying to keep some sense of sanity in the house, but towards the end when he goes a little off his rocker he gets a little mad-scientist-crazy. But don't let that deture you from this gem of a film.

Highly recommended but viewer beware, this is a hearttugging, heartbreaking, tearjerking assult of the senses kinda film. Just a warning.