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Lorenzo's Oil
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	George Miller
Produced by	George Miller Doug Mitchell
Written by	George Miller Nick Enright
Starring	Nick Nolte Susan Sarandon Peter Ustinov
Music by	Willie Thurlow (theme from Lorenzo's Oil)
Cinematography	John Seale
Editing by	Marcus D'Arcy Richard Francis-Bruce
Distributed by	Universal Pictures
Release date(s)	December 30, 1992 (1992-12-30)
Running time	129 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$30,000,000 (estimated)+ $90,000 from NBC

Lorenzo's Oil is a 1992 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 adrenoleukodystrophy (ALD). The film was nominated for two Academy Awards.

Plot

Failing to find a doctor capable of treating their young son Lorenzo's rare disease, Augusto and Michaela Odone sought their own cure. They set out on a mission to find a treatment to save their child. In their quest, the Odones clashed with doctors, scientists, and support groups, who were skeptical that anything could be done about ALD, much less by laypeople. But they persisted, setting up camp in medical libraries, reviewing animal experiments, badgering researchers, questioning top doctors all over the world, and even organizing an international symposium about the disease. Despite dead ends of research, the horror of watching their son's health decline, and being surrounded by skeptics (including the coordinators of the support group they attended), they persisted until they finally hit upon a therapy involving adding a certain kind of oil (actually an oil containing two specific long chain fatty acids, both isolated from olive oil) to their son's diet. They contacted over 100 firms around the world until they found an elderly British chemist working for Croda International who was willing to take on the challenge of distilling the proper formula. It proved 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 was still a great deal of neurological damage remaining which could not be reversed until new treatments were found to regenerate the myelin sheath (a lipid insulator) around the nerves.

The film ends with Lorenzo at the age of 14 showing definite improvement (he could swallow for himself and answer yes or no questions by blinking) but indicating more medical research is still needed. The end credits of the film note that Lorenzo also regained his sight and was learning to use a computer.

Awards

Lorenzo's Oil was nominated twice at the 65th Academy Awards for Best Actress in a Leading Role (Susan Sarandon) and Best Original Screenplay (George Miller & Nick Enright).

Susan Sarandon was also nominated for Best Actress at the 50th Golden Globe Awards.

The film was also nominated for Best Original Screenplay Written Directly for the screen at the WGA Awards.

Reception

Lorenzo's Oil was acclaimed by critics, and currently holds a 95% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun Times gave it 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."

References

External links

• Lorenzo's Oil (film) at the Internet Movie Database
• Lorenzo's Oil (film) at Allmovie
• Lorenzo's Oil (film) at Rotten Tomatoes