Oliver Sacks: His Own Life

This was fimed during the last few months of the life of Oliver Sachs, but also includes photographs and footage from his earlier years and his working life as a neurologist and scientist. It is not sensationalised but still manages to show the extremes that he lived through. I felt the sadness of his family life in Britain during World War II and beyond. He went to the USA when he was 27, and although he struggled with drug addiction he was also able to make a medical career for himself. We learn about some of his work with patients who would never have been seen by people outside of the mental hospital where they had spent many years. The medical establishment took many years to accept his ideas and his writings. We also observe his compassion towards his patients, and his bravery in being the vanguard in the understanding of the human brain.