Lorenzo's Oil

This was another movie I absolutely dreaded watching. I had heard it was very good, but also that it was extremely sad, and I like tear-jerkers about as much as I like war movies and westerns but for different reasons. (Westerns and war movies tend to bore me; I just can't get into them. Tear-jerkers make me mad because I get into them too much.) It didn't help that my mom is one of the people who recommended this movie to me, and our taste in movies differs wildly.

I must admit this was an excellent movie. Certainly not something I can put in the category of "fun and entertaining," but it wasn't the tear-jerker I expected, for which I was very glad (although I must admit I did get choked up at one point). One big thing was that I had totally expected Lorenzo to die during this movie, and he didn't! That went a long way towards keeping this movie from being as depressing as I expected. In fact, I looked Lorenzo Odone up on wikipedia.org just now and was very surprised to find out that he lived until the age of 30, having passed away just over a year ago. It wasn't all good news online, though. Getting the actual facts took away from the feeling of hope the movie leaves you with. The movie gives you the idea that perhaps, rather than just stopping the progress of the disease, Lorenzo actually began to improve after treatment (he was able to wiggle a previously immobile finger, and began to signal "yes" and "no" with eye movements after months of no communication whatsoever), but this was not the case; the ability for these movements and signals was not lost and regained, it was merely never lost. Yes, Lorenzo's Oil has successfully treated many other boys, but it was discovered too late for Lorenzo. It definitely prolonged his life, but at what quality? It was also sad to hear that his mother passed away in 2000 (only 8 years after the movie was made).

I thought that the movie rather vilified several doctors and the couple at the head of the ALD charitable organization, and I wondered if in real life it wasn't more shades of grey than the black and white presented in the movie, but it is an understandable modification given that black and white makes for a much more striking story than grey.