Lorenzos Öl

Recently there was a case of adrenoleukodystrophy in my hospital. The first case in over 20 years. The professor told us about this film and urged the staff to watch it. I am so glad I watched it! This film is very touching. It also enhanced my understanding of the psychosocial aspects of a genetic disease and its impact on the family.

I find the pace a bit fast in the first hour. I did not expect Lorenzo to have disabling symptoms just 10 minutes into the film. The scene where the parents reading about the disease is so effective. Seeing Nick Nolte crying helplessly on the stairs is probably the most effective scene in the whole film. It really conveys to the audience about how it feels to find about the inevitable fate.

In the film we can see how love shines in the dark. The love of parents is truly unconditional. One can easily feel the love, and be touched by it. Susan Sarandon is so convincing in portraying the relentless mother! Her performance deserves an Oscar award!

I was also particularly impressed by the child actors who played the diseased children. Their performance is so convincing that I would easily say that the symptoms were real and not faked. I wonder how these children manage it!

Lay people may find the technical and scientific details overwhelming and hard to follow. However, the technical details are well explained so it should not be a problem.

I wholeheartedly recommend this film to everyone. Parents will find it especially touching as the film echos the unconditional love they have for their children.

Lorenzo's oil

A true story about a battle for the life of Lorenzo who suffers from ALD. A rare disease which destroys all basic functions like speech and movement and in the end takes the life of the person. In this movie the parents fight the clock by doing their own research and investigation.

This is a true masterpiece, about hope. Acting and directing are fabulous. You can feel the cast being involved. I have seen a a lot of movies of Nick Nolte , but this must be one of his better ones. Here he proves he can do more than "another 48 hours". Nick is convincing in every way in this movie, even though he has a very hard part playing an Italian(Augusto Odone).

Susan Sarandon plays the mother of Lorenzo. It's incredible how she plays the part of a mother near the end of her powers pushing away everybody that does not share the same faith in saving the life of her son.

This movie is underrated, and should be given a chance. I seen a lot of movies and normally i do not watch this kind of movies, they cannot hold m y attention for long. But this one is different and really heartbreaking.

I had never heard about ALD. So today i did some investigation, and found out that Lorenzo still lives and you can write him if you want

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.

Wow!,what a film.Based on a true story about little boy Lorenzo who gets an incurable disease called ALG.Parents never gives up to get a cure for the disease.And a cure there is,in form of an oil.This is an heartwarming,interesting and very important movie.Great performances all around.Especially Nick Nolte who did a great job with his italian accent.Definately one of his best performances. Sarandon and Ustinov are also great.Not to mention the little boy who played Lorenzo,fantastic. However this movie is not so well known.For us who have seen it,we all agree this is one outstanding movie,that sticks to your mind for a long time...

Rating 8/10

This is the true story of Lorenzo Michael Murphy Odone, who, at the age of seven, suffered from a rare, incurable brain disease called ALD. The doctors said there was nothing they could do and that he would die within 24 months of diagnosis. Lorenzo's parents, Augusto Odone (Nick Nolte) and Michaela Odone (Susan Sarandon) decided to gather all the information they could find on their own. Day by day, night by night, from laymen to dedicated researchers, they discovered an awful lot more about the disorder than doctors and scientists. As Lorenzo's condition deteriorated, they never ceased to soldier on. Eventually, Augusto Odone solved the mystery and invented a prescription- a special form of olive oil which could help boys (the disease is passed on by the mothers to their sons, not their daughters) with ALD. Because of his contribution, Odone received an honorary medical degree. And at the age of fourteen, Lorenzo could make some movements and began trying to communicate with the outside world with a computer...

I wept several times when watching this film. Notwithstanding all the odds, the Odones struggled and conquered their misfortune, and their achievement was outstanding. This is an intense drama with fine acting and something to think about deeply.