AWAKE

FILM:  AWAKE/2007

I was amazed to learn that 30,000 people each year are wide awake during surgery, despite being given general anesthesia.  It is impossible to tell whether the patient is still awake because the body is completely paralyzed and there is no way to signal the medical team.  The pain of surgery is felt, the incision is felt, and in the case of heart surgery, the ribs are felt being moved.

Screenwriter/Director Joby Harold has borrowed this horrific medical phenomenon for a taut psychological script.

Twenty-one-year old Clayton Beresford (Hayden Christensen) has inherited his father’s corporate empire and is a billionaire.  Clay’s life has already been saved from a heart attack by Dr. Jack Harper (Terrence Howard) but has been advised by Harper to undergo a heart transplant.  Clay is on a waiting list, but has an unusual blood type which is making the wait longer. He has become friendly with Dr. Howard and wants him to do the transplant when a heart becomes available.

Since the Beresfords are so wealthy and aristocratic, Clay has kept his engagement to Samantha (Jessica Alba) a secret from his mother.  He knows without doubt that his mother (Lina Olin) would be vehemently opposed to a marriage to the obviously working-class woman.  Mrs. Beresford actually knows the woman – Sam is her secretary.  Sam is very upset about their relationship being kept a secret and she urges Clay to tell his mother.  One night, during a terrible conversation with his mother and his secret love, the mother is informed.  She, of course, is furious.  That same evening, he contacts his doctor friend and Jack sets up a church wedding in the middle of the night.  It takes a great buying into this chronology to believe that just after the wedding, a heart appears for the transplant.  We encounter all of the players in the hospital lobby, plus a very prominent cardiologist brought in by Mrs. Beresford.  Clay insists that his friend, Jack, will do the surgery.

Clay is taken into the operating theater and prepped.  He is given the anesthesia, told to count backwards.  His eyes close but is wide awake but unable to communicate.   During the course of his ordeal, he learns that he has been set up.  The set up involves the operating team and even Sam.  He is supposed to die at the conclusion of the operation. All of this is being discussed openly during the surgery.  Even Sam shows up in the O.R.  Clay finds out that she also has a medical background. 

I liked everything about this film, except that at 84 minutes, it seems a little short.  If you’ve ever undergone general anesthesia or is about to, this could be your worst nightmare.  It’s much scarier than any horror fiction out there!