Example Of Lorenzo's Oil Movie Review

Lorenzo’s Oil, directed by George Miller, tells the story of Michaela and Augusto Odone’s struggle to understand adrenoleukodystrophy (ALD), a rare genetic disease that afflicts their son Lorenzo. This movie highlights the difficulty associated with trying to find a treatment for a devastating disease that affects only a small number of people. These “orphan” diseases like ALD are understudied and often the only treatment option is participation in experimental therapeutic trials. Lorenzo’s Oil takes the viewer on a journey through medical science as two devoted parents try to save their son’s life.
Lorenzo (played by Zack O’Malley Greenburg) is a bright boy who at the start of the movie lives in Africa with his parents and is fluent in 3 languages. He is loved by his friends and family and displays great compassion for the people he lives with. His father Augusto, an Italian national played by Nick Nolte, works for the World Bank. The family moves back to the United States after Augusto gets reassigned to the World Bank Office in Washington, DC. Soon after moving back to the States, Lorenzo’s teacher reports to his mother, Michaela (played by Susan Sarandon), that he has been demonstrating aggressive behavior at school. The problem continues to get worse and school administrators suggest that Lorenzo may need to be placed in special education classes. Michaela and Augusto have a difficult time understanding what is going on with their son because this behavior is very uncharacteristic. After a series of accidents, Lorenzo is declared neurologically intact, however, his parents are convinced that their son is suffering from an undiagnosed ailment. Finally after extensive medical testing, Lorenzo, at the age of 6, is diagnosed with Adrenoleukodystrophy (ALD).
ALD is a rare genetic condition that, at the time of the movie, had only recently been described. ALD only afflicts males. Those males with ALD cannot break down long chain fatty acids and these fatty acids accumulate throughout the body affecting myelin which sheaths the axons of neurons. As the disease progresses, neurons become demyelinated and the patient loses bodily functions progressing to a vegetative state and, eventually, dying. The doctor that diagnoses Lorenzo cannot offer any treatment options and tells his parents that all they can do is accept that Lorenzo will die within 2 years. His parents go home without any hope. Augusto becomes even more distraught when he reads medical literature that confirms what Lorenzo’s doctor has told him. Desperate to help Lorenzo, his parents enroll him in an experimental treatment program where participants are placed on a restricted diet aimed at reducing the amount of long chain fatty acids that enter the body. Despite the rigid diet, Lorenzo’s long chain fatty acids continue to increase. Michaela is devastated to learn that ALD is an X-linked disorder that is passed from mother to son.
The Odones continue to look for treatment options for Lorenzo. They attend an ALD parent conference and are disappointed that the organization is not focusing on looking for treatment options. Lorenzo is enrolled in an immunotherapy trial which takes a great toll on his body. At this point, the Odone’s decide that they must assume the responsibility of seeking a viable treatment for Lorenzo. “He would expect it of us,” states Augusto to Michaela. Together, the Odones delve into the biomedical literature in search of information and discover that there are important pieces of research that need to be more effectively tied together. In an attempt to do this, the Odones organize the first international ALD research conference aimed at developing treatments. They raise money, recruit the help of Lorenzo’s doctor, Professor Gus Nikolais (played by Peter Ustinov), and invite 40 renowned researchers to the conference. At the conference, it is agreed that diet restriction fails because the body increases the biosynthesis of long chain fatty acids in response to low dietary intake of these fats. An obscure study in rats indicates that this increased biosynthesis can be halted with the intake of another long chain fatty acid. An American researcher at the conference states that he saw the same results when he used olive oil on cells cultured from ALD patients. Olive oil is too dangerous to use in clinical trials and a safer version of the oil needs to be manufactured for clinical trials. Michaela begins seeking a way to manufacture this oil.
Meanwhile, Lorenzo continues to deteriorate, losing his ability to communicate, eat and even efficiently swallow his own saliva. Michaela finds a bottle of the purified oil manufactured by a technology company as an industrial lubricant. The Odones, with the unofficial guidance of Dr. Nikolais, begin to include the oil in his diet. Monthly blood tests reveal that the oil consumption has reduced the amount long chain fatty acids by 50% after 2 months. The Odones want to share this with other parents of ALD children but are asked not to by Dr. Nikolais because he feels that the results are still too preliminary. The ALD parent’s group is also unwilling to help the Odones share their results with other parents for fear of spreading false hope. After 2 months, the decrease in fatty acids plateaus near 50% much to the dismay of the Augusto and Michaela. Lorenzo suffers from horrible choking spasms that seem to bring him to the brink of death and scare off his home nurse. Lorenzo’s condition causes friction between Michaela and her sister who is one of Lorenzo’s caretakers and Michaela and Augusto. Despite many close calls, Lorenzo continues to survive.
Inspired by Lorenzo’s strong will to live, the Odone’s renew their search for more effective therapies. After much effort, Augusto hypothesizes that the monounsaturated long chain fatty acids and saturated long chain fatty acids are produced by the same enzyme. He further proposes that adding the rapeseed oil extract erucic acid, (a longer fatty acid chain) to the olive oil extract oleic acid already being used would be a more effective therapeutic treatment. Dr. Nikolais does not see this as a viable treatment option because erucic acid was found to be harmful in rats. After extensively looking for someone to properly extract the erucic acid, the Odones finally find a British biochemist (played by the biochemist himself, Don Suddaby) willing to try. After several, months the erucic acid extraction is complete and ready to mix with the oleic acid in a 1:4 combination. This formula is Lorenzo’s Oil and successfully reduces Lorenzo’s long chain fatty acid levels to normal. The neurological damage that Lorenzo has suffered is irreversible but Lorenzo’s Oil stops the progression of the disease and he does recover the ability to swallow and communicate through slight movements. At the end of the movie, Lorenzo is 14 and Augusto is researching myelin, the sheath destroyed by ALD.
Lorenzo’s Oil is a movie that clearly outlines the science behind medical discovery and highlights the challenges and tribulations associated with the search for therapeutic options to rare diseases. Lorenzo died in 2008 at the age of 30, living many years beyond his initial prognosis. The movie is the story of a mother and father’s willingness to do whatever it takes to heal their son. In the end, they realize that their efforts may be too late for Lorenzo but others may benefit from their work.