Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, February 6, 1993 TAG: 9302060221
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MIKE MAYO CORRESPONDENT
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
HONESTY OVERCOMES `LORENZO'S' FLAWS
"Lorenzo's Oil" is a medical drama that's often deeply moving and, just as often, exasperating.Based on a real case, the film is about two parents who defied the best doctors in America to find a treatment for their son. Writer-director George Miller, best known for the "Mad Max" films and "The Witches of Eastwick," is a physician himself. Perhaps that experience allows him to explore the complexities of the situation.
This isn't a story about heroes and villains; it's about people who are suffering and what they do about it.
In 1984, Augusto (Nick Nolte) and Michaela (Susan Sarandon) Odone have no idea what is happening to their 5-year-old son, Lorenzo (played by Zack O'Malley Greenburg, and five other young actors). Could he have picked up a tropical disease when they were living in Africa, something that appeared after they'd moved to Washington?
The doctors are baffled. It takes them some time to diagnose adrenoleukodystrophy (ALD), a rare hereditary disorder that only recently has been identified. According to the expert, Professor Nikolais (Peter Ustinov), ALD is invariably fatal. The only treatment is experimental and holds little hope.
In fact, the medical community knows almost nothing about ALD, beyond the fact that it somehow is connected to fatty acids. No one is sure what it does or how it works. The Odones decide to learn.
While caring for their son as his condition deteriorates, they teach themselves biochemistry and read everything they can find.
Obviously, people reading books and articles in obscure medical journals is not the stuff of riveting drama. But Miller is largely successful in maintaining suspense. Perhaps he overuses extreme camera angles, but that's not serious.
More troublesome is the matter of Nick Nolte's Italian accent: It may be realistic, but it sounds forced, and it underlines a fussy, mannered performance. Nolte always seems to be holding his body and his head in odd, uncomfortable positions.
At times, Susan Sarandon is equally off-putting as a mother whose devotion knows no limits. Their purpose is to show that the Odones are not conventional saintly heroes. They could be as shortsighted and prone to mistakes as anyone.
Those flaws grow as the film goes on. It takes so long (2 hours plus) to sort through this involved search for answers that "Lorenzo's Oil" loses power toward the end. And the boy's physical condition is so agonizing that it becomes increasingly hard to watch.
Even so, it's difficult to be too critical of a film that's so emotionally honest. Miller doesn't cheat, and he never takes easy shortcuts, even when they might have been more entertaining. This could have been the raw material for another "disease of the week" TV movie. But, despite the flaws, "Lorenzo's Oil" is more human and touching than that.
Lorenzo's Oil: **1/2
A Universal release playing at the The Grandin Theatre. Rated PG-13 for subject matter, some strong language. 134 min.