Fortunately for Lorenzo, he has uncommonly devoted parents. They are Augusto (Nick Nolte), an Italian immigrant to America, and Michaela (Susan Sarandon), who devotes herself exclusively (some would say obsessively) to her troubled young son's care. The disease ravages poor Lorenzo, gradually making him mute and immobile, to the point where he cannot swallow his saliva. At this point, he requires around the clock nursing care, provided when possible by his mother.
Meanwhile, Augusto haunts libraries, researching a longshot cure for the disease. He soon becomes an expert in human and animal metabolism of long-chain fats, which accumulate in the brains of ALD victims since they lack the enzymes to break them down. After much toil and heartbreak, Augusto finds a treatment, if not a cure: an oil that stops the production of long chain fats in Lorenzo. The oil also helps some other ALD children.
Although still severely afflicted, Lorenzo shows minor progress toward recovery. Augusto turns his attention to restoring Lorenzo's myelin, a nerve cell coating that has been stripped by the insidious accumulation of long-chain fats. The movie manages to end on a positive note.
How I felt about it. In fact, the ending is too positive, truth be told. The implication is that Lorenzo's Oil stops the progression of ALD. While it did so for Lorenzo, and undoubtedly many others, it doesn't help all those with ALD. In fact, it has yet to receive FDA approval, and the special oil remains costly. The myelin project, vital to a potential cure for ALD and multiple sclerosis, has made little tangible progress despite the passage of two decades.
The film exaggerated Lorenzo's recovery. He is able to see normally by film's end, which appears not to have been the case in real life. Lorenzo died in 2008 at the age of 30, still bedridden. On the other hand, he was the first ALD patient to reach that age, a testament to the hard work of his parents. He outlived his dedicated mother, who died in 2000. One suspects that if she were still alive today, so would be Lorenzo.
Augusto and Michaela set examples of parents that the rest of us mere mortals cannot hope to equal. They sacrifice their wealth, health, and time to their stricken child, who is unable to as much as thank them for it. Most of us instead end up like the Muscatines, who simply follow the instructions of doctors and hope for the best. Hope is the easier path, but it is no substitute for focused hard work.
This film was directed by George Miller, best known for the Mad Max trilogy. Despite his deserved reputation as an action movie director, he does able work here.
How others will see it. While the movie's ending is feel good, the middle of the film is the complete opposite. The word that perhaps best describes it is harrowing. When poor Lorenzo is choking on his own saliva and frantically gasping for breath, you will find it preferable to toil in a sewer line than to watch this film. If you have the tenacity to make it all the way through, you will undoubtedly grow to admire the performances of the two leads, Sarandon and Nolte. They have great roles, and prove worthy of them.