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Will Smith playing golf, not football
BAt one point in the movie Concussion, Dr. Bennet Omalu (Will Smith), the Pittsburgh pathologist who discovered the link between playing football and degenerative brain disease, says “I am the wrong person to have discovered this.” Unfortunately, Omalu is also the wrong person to make this very significant movie about.
Omalu’s interest in the disease known as chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) began when he performed the autopsy on retired Pittsburgh Steeler great Mike Webster, who died a drug addicted shell of his former self at the age of 50. Omalu’s autopsy reveals that Webster’s brain shows signs of CTE, a rare form of dementia, normally only found in much older people, that drove Webster to kill himself. Omalu eventually concludes that the repetitive head blows football players suffer caused Webster’s CTE and those of other former players whose corpses he examines. With the help of his boss (Albert Brooks) and a former Steelers team doctor (Alec Baldwin), Omalu embarks on a long and difficult quest to call the NFL’s attention to the problem.
Concussion tells a powerful and significant story. Omalu’s findings have led to widespread changes in how football is played at all levels, including rules changes to reduce head-to-head contact and mandatory concussion protocols. But while Omalu’s findings are signficant, the man himself, as played by Smith in a very good performance, is quiet, reserved, and low-key to a fault. The real emotion in Concussion lies in its gripping portrayal of star athletes who wind up like the pitiable Webster (excellently played by Morse), or as delusional paranoids like Dave Duerson (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje). Writer/director Peter Landesman apparently realizes the inherent blandness in his central character and tries to play up Omalu’s romance with his eventual wife (Gugu Mbatha-Raw). However, their personal relationship is as restrained as Omalu’s professional character. Similarly, Landesman’s half-hearted and fully fictional attempt to turn Concussion into a conspiracy thriller, with the NFL out to silence Omalu, fizzles out. In reality, the NFL simply ignored Omalu’s findings as long as it could. Fortunately for the movie’s sake, Landesman doesn’t just rely on B-movie conspiracy theatrics but, instead, surrounds Smith’s quiet performance with some effective supporting turns from the likes of Baldwin and especially Brooks, who adds much-needed humor to the film. Still, despite its cast, Concussion is well made and informative, but not as emotional as it could be, a movie that settles for a field goal instead of reaching the end zone.
Continue reading on Concussion: Mini-review
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