soccerbeast-89913
From the very start of the movie, I was completely indulged in the story. I felt as though I was a member of the Odone family. The story was perfectly paced and kept the viewer constantly engaged in all that was taking place. The movie did a great job making you, the viewer, feel as though you were in the given situations, both good and bad.The acting in this film was outstanding. Both Sarandon and Nolte were incredible. The love they showed for their son, Lorenzo, was special. I found the acting of young Lorenzo, Zack O'Malley Greenburg, to be especially superb. To be given the task of playing a boy with ALD cannot be easy and he portrayed it effortlessly at such a young age. This film has moments of joy and moments that pull at your heartstrings. It is a movie that everyone should see within their lifetime because it is truly inspirational and powerful! I have tremendous amounts of respect for the real Odone family.
SnoopyStyle
Lorenzo Odone is a regular kid who spent three years in east Africa. Back in the States, he starts having disturbances. It's a mystery that his parents (Nick Nolte, Susan Sarandon) have difficulty solving until he is diagnosed as suffering from ALD. It's a rare incurable degenerative brain disorder that wasn't even identified 10 years before. There are no treatments and he's not expected to survive past 2 years. Then his parents goes all out to research his disease.This is a perfectly constructed sick-kid-drama. It excels because of the great performances. There is some science but the exposition is simple. And it's impossible not to like the old English scientist with 6 months before retirement. It is heart warming and a tear jerking. It is a great triumph of doggedness and parental love movie.
nbwritersinbox
Extraordinary performances from Nolte (Augusto Odone) and Zack O'Malley Greenburg (as the young Lorenzo) are reason enough to view this outstanding medical drama. The script is sensitive and fascinating, the struggles and determination of the Odone Family riveting. It's beautifully directed, moving in every frame and uplifting in it's sheer humanity. Yes, here we see humankind at their best.Not an easy film to watch, as Lorenzo changes gradually from healthy boy to tortured teenager, the ravages of ALD (Adrenoleukodystrophy) taking its gruesome toll.Despite this, the film is not lurid or demeaning. Augusto's efforts to understand the complex biochemistry of the brain (cerebral ALD destroys brain nerves) is totally absorbing (even to viewers with only a passing interest in medicine).Attitudes to health and disease are also thoroughly examined here, as the Odones refuse to accept the established diagnosis that "nothing can be done". The script also doesn't pull any punches when it comes to observing the different reactions and family pressures caused by so-called "incurable diseases".This film offers us all a powerful message of hope, since Lorenzo begins to show signs of recovery, once the rare and precious oil has been identified, manufactured and administered. As cinema goes, this amounts to a tour de force.
lisa-kevin3531
This is a motion picture unlike any other I've ever seen. I highly recommend the film, yet this is not an easy movie to watch. It depicts human suffering in such a brutal and forthright manner that it's hard to believe it received only a PG-13 rating. After viewing this film I felt tired and wrung-out, which just goes to show how the family who experienced this in real life must have felt. The movie is not so much about the little boy Lorenzo, suffering from a 100% fatal illness, but rather his parents' dogged determination to find a cure, despite stern opposition from the medical community and other parents who have basically given up hope. It raises the question of whether research money should be spent on finding the cure for a rare disease that effects relatively few people, or rather using that money for finding a cure for a more common disease that effects millions. There have been many good movies made about the triumph of the human will over a fatal illness, but Lorenzo's Oil has so much more to offer than that. But even though the movie has a relatively "happy" ending, getting there is certainly not a comfortable ride.
AD
