The movie tells the true story of the neurologist Dr. Sayer who gets hired at a local hospital in the Bronx and ended up working with catatonic patients.Over time, through analyzing the patients, he discovers that they will respond to certain stimuli that relate to their reflexes. Through research he discovers that the L-Dopa drug allows the patients to be "awakened" and bring them back to reality. This appears to be an incredible break through for the hospital. Once the patients are awaken they all begin sharing what they like, don't like, what they want, and things they like to do. At one point the De Niro's character, Leonard, expressed that he wanted to be able to go on a walk, to get to know people, to do things that regular human beings take for granted. Leonard talks about how he was locked up for many years in his mind and could not do anything and now he wants to just live life.
So often in life we need reminders like this one from Leonard. We can so easily take for granted the little things in life like taking a walk. We can take for granted the loved ones who are all around us. We can take for granted the simplest touch of a fellow human being. As I reflect on my evening I realize how often I take for granted the times that I spend going on walks with my girlfriend. We do not always go on walks but, when we do I do not realize how lucky we are to be able to walk around and enjoy this simple freedom. To be able to take in every smell, to see all the forms around us, and to feel the air and the ground and everything around us. To not be trapped in our brains but, to be able to explore the world.
[SPOILER]
At the end of the movie the drug begins to wear off and they soon realize that the effects were not permanent. Over time the residents returned to their dormant state but, this time things were different. This time the doctors and nurses realized that these people were still living; they realized that they had thinking minds that knew they were there. This is shown very beautifully at the end when you see the nurses and visitors treating the non-responsive residents as if they were still acting. They were treating them as humans and showing them dignity by putting make-up on some, leading some to the window so they could see out of it, and talking to some of them.
As followers of the Way, we need to be about waking people up and reminding them of the beauty of life all around them. We need to value and appreciate each others humanity. We need to show our neighbor that we see value in them and love them. We need to awaken one another up to our true potential; our true humanity.
“Sleeper, awake! Rise from the dead, and Christ will give you light.”
(Eph. 5.14. New Living Translation).
