The
answer to finding cures for fatal diseases is left to independent scientists
who are free to pursue these cures in the absence of obstruction by bureaucrats
who run the “scientific establishment” that includes Big Pharma, Big
Government, Big law firms, Big lobbyists and Big money. Nothing illustrates this better than the movie Lorenzo's Oil.
Lorenzo's Oil is a 1992 American drama film directed
by George Miller. It is based on
the true story of Augusto and Michaela Odone, two parents in a relentless search for a cure for their
son Lorenzo's (ALD).
It was filmed primarily from September 1991 to
February 1992 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The
film had a limited release in North America on December 30, 1992, with a
nationwide release two weeks later on January 15, 1993. It was generally well
received by the critics and received two nominations at the 65th
Academy Awards but was a box office bomb, grossing only $7.2 million against its $30 million budget.
Lorenzo is a bright and
vibrant young boy living in the Comoro Islands, as his father Augusto works for the World Bank and is stationed there. However, when his parents relocate
back to the United States, he begins to show signs of neurological problems
(such as falling, loss of hearing, tantrums, etc.). The boy is diagnosed as having adrenoleukodystrophy
(ALD), which is fatal
within two years.
Failing
to find a doctor capable of treating their son's rare disease Augusto and his
wife, Michaela, set out on a mission to
find a treatment to save their son. In their quest, the Odones clash with
doctors, scientists and a support group that is skeptical that anything could
be done about ALD, much less by laypeople. But they persist, setting up camp in
medical libraries, reviewing animal experiments, enlisting the aid of Professor
Gus Nikolais, badgering researchers, questioning top doctors all over the world
and even organizing an international symposium about the disease.
Despite
research dead-ends, the horror of watching their son's health decline and being
surrounded by skeptics (including the coordinators of the support group they
attend), they persist until they finally hit upon a therapy involving adding a
certain kind of oil (actually containing two specific long chain fatty acids, isolated from rapeseed oil and olive oil) to their son's diet. They contact over 100 firms around the
world until they find an elderly British chemist, Don Suddaby, who is working
for Croda International and is willing to take
on the challenge of distilling the proper formula.
The
oil, erucic acid, proves successful in normalizing the accumulation
of the very long chain fatty acids in the brain that had been causing their
son's steady decline, thereby halting the progression of the disease. There is
still a great deal of neurological damage remaining which could not be reversed
unless new treatments could be found to regenerate the myelin sheath (a lipid insulator) around
the nerves.
The
father is seen taking on the new challenge of organizing biomedical efforts to
heal myelin damage in patients.
Finally,
Lorenzo, at the age of 14, shows definite improvement (swallowing for himself
and answering "yes" or "no" questions by blinking) but more
medical research is still needed. Ultimately, it is revealed that Lorenzo has
regained his sight, can move his head from side to side, vocalize simple sounds
and is learning to use a computer.
Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun Times gave the film four out of four stars and called it an
"immensely moving and challenging movie". He added, "it was
impossible not to get swept up in it" and James
Berardinelli of ReelViews gave it three out of four
stars and claimed, "it was about the war for knowledge and the victory of
hope through perseverance."
Review
aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes
retrospectively collected reviews from 37 critics
to give the film a score of 92%, with an average rating of 8/10, as of
June 2019.
Norb
Leahy, Dunwoody GA Tea Party Leader
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