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| | Salesrank: 194255
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| Our Price: $31.21 |
| Used Price: $31.20 |
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MPAA Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
With this powerful 1992 drama, director-producer George Miller (The Road Warrior) proved that a movie about a disease doesn't have to be a typical disease-of-the-week movie. Based on the real-life case of the Odones family, the story concerns 5-year-old Lorenzo, suffering mightily from an apparently incurable and degenerative brain illness called A.L.D. His parents, an economist (Nick Nolte) and a linguist (Susan Sarandon), refuse to accept the received wisdom that there is no hope, and set about learning biochemistry to pursue a cure on their own. The film becomes an intriguing scientific mystery mixed with a story of pain, grief, and the strain on the two adults. In other words, Lorenzo's Oil is similar to all those medical-mayhem TV flicks but with some key differences: a pair of great actors in Sarandon and Nolte--who actually do some of the finest work of their careers here--and Miller's bold and typically inventive direction. Miller, a doctor himself, refuses to shirk from the chaos and horrors of a child's agony, and he makes us hear the death chains rattling behind images that would be purely sentimental in another director's hands. --Tom Keogh
Lorenzo's Oil [Region 2] Reviews:
very moving story 
2009-09-06 - Lorenzo's oil - more than just a great movie.: An article from: Medical Update is a very moving real life story. It is the emotional journey of the parents of a boy afflicted with a very rare hereditary neurological disorder. Their efforts prolonged their son's life by several years and resulted in the discovery of an oil that can cure the disease if taken early enough in the diagnosis. Susan Sarandon and Nick Nolte offer a wonderful portrayal of these determined parents.
Great educational film 
2009-08-17 - I have shown this film many times in the high school Biology classes that I teach. The movie does an excellent job following the true story of a family struggling with the genetic disorder ALD. It is sad and painful reminder of the uncertainties associated with genetic disease. My students really enjoy the film and it really puts a face and story behind genetic disease.
The Critics of This Movie Are Ignorant
2009-08-13 - Two of the people who gave this movie a bad review (one star) said that the movie was not factual, and even suggested that the oil doesn't work in most ALD patients. I did a web search of only .edu websites and found that the two reviewers are wrong. Lorenzo's oil only works in about 2/3 of ALD patients, that's true. And it only works if those patients start taking the oil *before* the onset of symptoms. But they couldn't be more wrong about the huge breakthrough that Lorenzo's oli represented in the study of ALD. It's just that the cure turns out not to be as simple as was initially hoped.
Do a .edu web search of the following:
Bradley J Stith PhD Lorenzo's oil
He is a professor of biology at Colorado University who thinks that the movie is a great teaching tool for getting students interested in the field of biology. He also discusses every aspect of ALD, the movie, and the oil itself.
Now, as to the charge that doctors and nurses are portrayed negatively in the movie. That's only partially true, because for every doctor and nurse who was portrayed negatively, there were doctors and nurses who were portrayed positively. The doctor who finally diagnosed Lorenzo (in the movie) is played entirely positively, as are all of his nurses and assistants. And the doctor who is in charge of the dietary studies (in the movie) is portrayed only partly negatively; later he even helps the Odones "off the record" in their unprecedented experiment with Lorenzo and the oil. Two of Lorenzo's home care nurses are portrayed partly negatively and partly positively. For that matter, Lorenzo's own mother was portrayed partly negatively because her obsession with Lorenzo was making her start treating her own family members badly in some ways. Of course, she can be excused because she was a panic-stricken and desperate mother.
Don't listen to the naysayers. All of their claims are off-target. This movie is on my list of top ten films ever made.
Depressing, yet hauntingly beautiful
2009-03-22 - Back in my High School years, I had to watch "Lorenzo's Oil" in Biology class. I thought I would be bored straight through, but it caught my attention. Now I can see why it's so good. It's a hauntingly beautiful film that would most certainly cause tidal waves of tears for those who are easily saddened. Nolte and Sarandon are fantastic as the couple that would never give up on their own damaged son (although Nolte's accent can be a bit laughable). Samuel Barber's "Adagio for Strings" is a nice touch as well. I would only recommend this film to those who are interested in science and good drama, but not to those who would NEVER want to see a kid's life being torn apart by a rare disease. Keep in mind that it's based on a true story; that's what makes this film more mesmerizing than it is.
R.I.P. Lorenzo Odone
Bookbug
2009-01-31 - This story about parents researching a treatment for their son's incurable and untreatable ALD disease in spite of a general lack of real support is inspiring. They persevered when their support group leaders insisted they needed to accept their son's death. When doctors were horrified that anyone without a medical degree would experiment on their own son to find a cure - even though the result of NOT trying and evaluating possible medications was disability, dementia, and death, they didn't give up. This medical drama is well produced. It will keep you on the edge of your seat and cheering to the end. Although the story isn't finished yet, the "end" is satisfying and challenging.
