Lorenzo's Oil
STUDY GUIDE
LORENZO’S OIL Overview Lorenzo’s Oil is the story of the Odones’ race against time for the survival of their little boy. Lorenzo at age 6 develops a classic childhood case of Adrenoleukodystrophy. Augusto and Michaela Odone work tirelessly with little assistance from the medical community and the parent support group to find a therapy to stop the progression of this devastating disease. In 2001 Elizabeth Spike, a high school biology teacher in Rochester, New York, chose to show a film to her students to help engage their interest in biology. Like many teachers, she had used many good documentary films in class, and to good effect. But she wanted something that had more drama, more entertainment value, to help draw the interest of less motivated students. After reviewing a number of fictional films, she watched Lorenzo’s Oil, and decided it had a number of qualities that no other film she found shared. While it was a Hollywood production, with the full entertainment values that includes, it was based on a true story. That alone puts it in small company. But also the Odones, the real family described in the story, had a lot of input into the script and film shooting. This added to the authenticity of the story, making its gut-wrenching emotions much more legitimate than a story created just for that effect. A similar fictional story might leave the audience feeling merely entertained at best or manipulated at worst. More importantly, there was more scientific content in this movie than any other Hollywood type film Elizabeth found, in part because of the Odone’s involvement in the entire project. Furthermore, the director of the film, George Miller, had received an M.D. before deciding to become a filmmaker, a rather unusual background in the world of film. He and the Odone’s clearly worked hard to include a sense of the drama involved in the medical and scientific quest portrayed in the movie. (Miller had previously made the Mad Max films, so no one
LORENZO’S OIL Overview Lorenzo’s Oil is the story of the Odones’ race against time for the survival of their little boy. Lorenzo at age 6 develops a classic childhood case of Adrenoleukodystrophy. Augusto and Michaela Odone work tirelessly with little assistance from the medical community and the parent support group to find a therapy to stop the progression of this devastating disease. In 2001 Elizabeth Spike, a high school biology teacher in Rochester, New York, chose to show a film to her students to help engage their interest in biology. Like many teachers, she had used many good documentary films in class, and to good effect. But she wanted something that had more drama, more entertainment value, to help draw the interest of less motivated students. After reviewing a number of fictional films, she watched Lorenzo’s Oil, and decided it had a number of qualities that no other film she found shared. While it was a Hollywood production, with the full entertainment values that includes, it was based on a true story. That alone puts it in small company. But also the Odones, the real family described in the story, had a lot of input into the script and film shooting. This added to the authenticity of the story, making its gut-wrenching emotions much more legitimate than a story created just for that effect. A similar fictional story might leave the audience feeling merely entertained at best or manipulated at worst. More importantly, there was more scientific content in this movie than any other Hollywood type film Elizabeth found, in part because of the Odone’s involvement in the entire project. Furthermore, the director of the film, George Miller, had received an M.D. before deciding to become a filmmaker, a rather unusual background in the world of film. He and the Odone’s clearly worked hard to include a sense of the drama involved in the medical and scientific quest portrayed in the movie. (Miller had previously made the Mad Max films, so no one