The realm of real world medicine is rife with syndromes and conditions that would make a fantastic movie base. First time writer/director Joby Harold picked a doozy when he sat down to write the script for Awake. Think about this, just for a moment: you need to have major surgery, the surgical team preps you for the procedure, and you are wheeled into the operating room. The anesthesiologist gives you the drug cocktail that will get you on the path to sleepyland. As soon as you nod off, the surgeons begin their work, but something is wrong. While everyone thinks you are dead to the world, you retain consciousness and can hear and feel everything but are unable to move.
I don't know about you, but the very thought of being awake while my flesh is being sliced open and exposed to the world is absolutely frightening. Think about it -- conscious, paralyzed, and completely out of control. This concept, called "anesthesia awareness," is at the heart of Awake.
Now, it should be noted that this phenomenon is not particularly common (the incidence ranges from 1 in 1,000 to 1 in 15,000, depending on which studies you read). Many cases involve the victim remembering things, post-surgery, that happened during the surgery. However, the idea that something like this could happen at all is very frightening and, as I suspected, this was the scariest thing about Awake.
Hayden Christensen is Clay Beresford, a young man who seemingly has the world at his fingertips. He is rich, has a thriving business, and the love of a beautiful woman, Sam (Jessica Alba). This is not all he has; he also has a bum heart and has been waiting for one to come up on the transplant list, otherwise he is destined to die young. He also has an overprotective mother in Lilith (Lena Olin).
In the slow first act, we find Clay is resentful of his mother's level of involvement in his life. Sam is tired of having to hide their engagement. Lilith believes she is putting her son's best interest first even if he doesn't believe so. The final piece to the puzzle is malpractice magnet Dr. Jack Harper (Terrence Howard), a cardiologist who has befriended Clay and is his first choice to perform the transplant.
Article comments
1 - terra
Towards the end of the movie the monitor was showing asystole-- which is when the heart is not beating at all. The only treatment for this is to start CPR and give drugs-- it is not treated with shocking the patient, which is what the movie did. Also-- the doctor was shouting that the patient was in fib and shouting for amiodarone-- Afib is not a lethal rhythm!! People are walking around in afib in this country! Yet the monitor was showing asystole-- for any nurse, doctor, med tech, ANYONE in the medical field will easily catch this huge error... just made the whole movie stupid from there out-- !