The listing, Waking Up Wally The Walter Gretzky Story Father of Hockey Great Wayne Gretzky Brand New Sealed DVD has ended.
This inspiring and powerful story is based on the book Walter Gretzky: On Family, Hockey and Healing, a memoir about Gretzky's long, long road back from a stroke that caused him, among other things, to lose all memory of son Wayne Gretzky's superior accomplishments in hockey. The relationship between Walter (Tom McCamus) and Wayne (Kristen Holden-Reid) is no more or less important in this film, however, than Walter's jeopardized connections with other family members, including his daughter, Kim (Tara Spencer-Nairn), and wife, Phyllis (Victoria Snow). Walter spends a year in rehabilitation re-learning the basics--how to button a shirt, how to comb one's hair, etc.--but it's after that the selectiveness of his memory proves confounding and cruel, such as grieving anew the death of his mother and struggling to recall his influence on Wayne. A therapist (Matthew Edison) who practically becomes a member of the Gretzky family turns out to be a big help (and a romantic interest for Kim). But it's McCamus' amazing performance as a man who has lost large pieces of himself, and Snow's portrayal of a spouse who no longer recognizes the man in her bed, that carry Waking Up Wally emotionally. --Tom Keogh