Oliver
Sacks died in 2015, but watching a documentary profile at such times as these
can only make us wonder of what he would have made of the age of the CCP-virus,
a.k.a. COVID-19. The practice of social distancing probably would have pained him,
but he would surely be doing his part as a medical doctor (thank you medical professionals
and first responders). Sacks did not live long enough to witness the pandemic
Xi-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed allowed to escape early detection in Wuhan to infect the
world, but he had time to see his writings embraced by an initially skeptical
medical community and to take stock of his life and career in Ric Burns’ Oliver
Sacks: His Own Life, which “screens” as part of this year’s ReelAbilities Film Festival New York—now presented online.
Burns
gives Sacks the full biographical treatment, tracing the psychological and
emotional impact of his schizophrenic brother’s struggles during his formative
years. His complicated relationship to his mother, who probably never really
accepted Sacks’ sexuality, also features prominently. Although these issues
clearly contributed to Sacks’ bouts with depression, they arguably helped make
him such an unusually empathetic doctor.
Ironically,
the book most responsible for Sacks’ fame, Awakenings, was initially a
modest seller that made Sacks almost a pariah amongst the neurological
establishment. His hide-bound peers simply refused to believe he had produced
such dramatic results administering L-Dopa to patients in an apparent locked-in
neurological state. They didn’t really change their mind until the Hollywood
movie co-starring jazz legend Dexter Gordon was released.
Burns
and Sacks’ colleagues do a nice job explaining how many of Sacks’ concepts and
practices were so far ahead of his time. The study of what constitutes “consciousness”
concerned Sacks long before Nobel Laureate Francis Crick started consulting him
on the subject.
On
the other hand, Burns’ film has a rather perverse fascination with Sacks’ sex
life and bodily functions. There are frank passages would have better left in
Sacks’ memoir. Maybe these will be excluded from the broadcast version that
will eventually air on PBS, which would be appropriate. As it is, the festival
cut won’t be suitable for educational use either, except maybe at Summerhill
and its imitators.
Regardless,
for mature adults, there is a lot of interesting material in Burns’ film that
fully puts his career into proper scientific and literary contexts. It is
always a shame to lose such a gifted mind, but Sacks did his best to exit with
grace. It is a nice profile, but a tighter focus and running time would have
made it stronger overall. Recommended for Sacks’ readers and admirers, Oliver
Sacks: His Own Life has its online screening this Wednesday (4/1), during
this year’s ReelAbilities NY.