Director
Penny Marshall

Cast
Robert DeNiro,
Robin Williams

Music
Randy Newman

Doctor Sayer (Robin Williams) is a research specialist who has only ever worked with plants and animals. In 1969 he is given a neurologists position in a chronic hospital. Here he discovers a group of patients who have been infected with encephalitis lethargica. These patients suffer from a condition in which they appear to be awake but have al the symptoms of being asleep. They don’t speak or doing anything voluntarily.

Doctor Sayer discovers however that they have exceptional reflex actions. He researches a drug L-DOPA that is generally used for the treatment of patients with Parkinson’s disease. His guinea pig patient (so to speak) is Leonard (Robert de Niro). He treats Leonard with this new drug and slowly increases his dosage until he is giving huge doses. Leonard then wakes in the middle of the night and almost transforms into a normal human being. Dr. Sayer and his dedication to these patients touch him. Leonard does all he can to help Dr. Sayers research.

When the patrons of the hospital learn of this breaking miracle, they donate more money for the research to continue with the other patients in the group, all of whom awaken after many years in a so called sleep. One patient wakes after being in this condition for 43 years.

But all is not as it seems…………………….

So How Does This Transfer Hold Up??
The anamophic video transfer is a bit ho hum. I found it irregular and sometimes not pleasing to watch. There are occasional instances of slight ailiasing throughout the film. The entire transfer has a very washed out look to it. I was happy that this was just a feeling to the film, until I watch the trailer and the behind the scenes featurette. Here the colours are much more saturated and eye catching, the skin tones are more vibrant and you get a better feeling from the picture. I’m not referring to the behind the scenes footage but the actual film features shown here. There is also a softness to the transfer there are times when the [picture is very sharp but generally it's a soft feel. In all I was a little disappointed with the transfer.

Video Highlights
Ch 01 02:11 – Some bad dust flecks
Ch 20 – Almost the whole chapter has potential for great colour but alas there is none.

The audio was also disappointing. All the tracks are Dolby Surround 2.0. Fair enough this is a dialogue driven film but there are many opportunities for use of driving surrounds. Unfortunately I was hard pressed to find much use of the surrounds at all. The dialogue is always very sharp and clear and I could not find any sync problems. The musical score by Randy Newman creates a perfect ambience for the film. It doesn’t really have a lot of effect on you but it is predominantly a nice classical score fitting the mood of the film.

There is a striking volume difference between the film and the other extras on the disk, which gave me a start when I changed to the extras and had to jump for the remote to turn it down. There aren’t a lot of highlights from the audio.

Audio Highlights
Ch 17 112:50 – A disco setting and yet no use of surrounds

As far as extras go there isn’t much. The trailer, Cast and Crew Bio’s and the behind the scene’s featurette. The featurette isn’t bad, bit of background information from the producer, Robin, and Robert. There are included some making of scene’s from the film and a short outtake. Nothing really exciting I’m afraid.

Overall I was most impressed with the story behind this film and almost disturbed that it is a true story. It certainly is a film that everyone should see for the human experience and the moving way that this film will touch you.

Review Equipment
TV: GE 68cm (16:9 selectable)
DVD: Samsung DVD907 (via S-Video)
Receiver/Proc: Sansui A505/Sony Amp & Yamaha DSP-E390
Speakers:-
Fronts: Wharfdale Diamond R6 (on a pair of custom made stands you'd KILL for)
Centre: Venturi
Rears: Sony bookshelf

- Reviewed 12th December 1999