Answer:
The "second awakening" that Dr. Sayer mentions in the last scenes of the movie is the new approach of life and treatment both for the patients as well as the doctors or other people. It allows them to treat the patients with care and more love, unlike the previous mentality of the patients as being 'incomplete' humans and thus require not much attention.
This movie seems to signify how mental patients were being mistreated before. It shows the insensitive side of people in their treatment and approach to how these "patients" are considered as part of the society.
Explanation:
The movie "Awakening" is a 1990 movie which deals with the issue of how catatonic patients are being treated in the hospitals or even viewed by the common people. This movie deals a lot with its characterization of the various catatonic patients and their subsequent treatment even after the administering of the L-Dopa drug.
Dr. Malcolm Sayer refers to the new medicine as an "awakening" for the patients as it seems to give them a new lease of leading a normal life. But as the side affects and other complications start to emerge, and the drug began to seem ineffective even in high doses, the protagonist or main actor of the movie Leonard Lowe decides to get himself filmed in the hope that it may be useful for further scientific studies.
The "second awakening" that Dr. Sayer refers to is the new approach of living life and learning to appreciate it. Even though the drug may have been unable to 'heal' them, it gave them a new perspective on how to approach and enjoy each day. It also gave a new perspective to the people on how to treat the patients with a new approach, respecting them and with a sense of care in their methods.
The whole movie seems to suggest how mental patients are being treated or approached by people in general. They are not deemed 'important' enough and may even be ignored at times. But this movie shows how 'human' they are and how they also need to be treated like everyone is.
