Concussion (theatrical release)

The dictionary definition of Drama is; any situation or series of events having vivid, emotional, conflicting, or striking interests and results.

 

To call Concussion a drama is a massive understatement, especially if you’re a fan of the game of football. There is no other game that captures the hearts and minds of this country the way football does, and every year as summer wanes to the crisp nights of autumn our tribal instincts are tapped. We dress ourselves with loyal colors and proudly proclaim our allegiance to chosen teams. We cheer with elation in victory and suffer bitterness in defeat, yet with each passing week we raise our spirits once again on any given Sunday.

The players are often referred to as warriors, gladiators, or heroes, but we console ourselves that the game is only a game and not a ruthless bloodsport. We reinforce those thoughts by watching former players as sports commentators, successful businessmen, or those who stand to receive the golden jacket of the Hall of Fame.

Little do we know how much we are shielded from the slow, painful death of the once proud giants of the gridiron. Dr. Bennet Omalu was not a football fan, but a forensic pathologist working for the Allegheny County Coroner’s office. He was considered odd by his peers as he spoke personally to the deceased patients as he performed autopsies, asking for their help in determining the cause of death. To say that Dr. Omalu was thorough would be selling him short. Instead, he was passionate about details until all the information finally added up to a conclusive explanation.

I could spill many superlatives about the performance of Will Smith as Dr. Omalu, but the highest praise would be that after a short time, you forget you’re looking at Will Smith as he struggles at each step to be heard under the barrage of unpopular rebuttal. This becomes all the more potent since the audience knows this isn’t fiction, but hard, brutal truth.

There are thought-provoking dramas, and there are dramas with enormous impact. There are David and Goliath stories, and those about how one man stands against unbelievable odds, refusing to give up the fight no matter the cost. Dr. Bennet Omalu was still a Nigerian immigrant at the time he stood tall against the behemoth we know as the National Football League. At every turn he was told to back down and be silent, but for him, the broken players cried out from beyond the grave, begging and demanding to be heard.

Veteran character actor Robert Morse breathes painful life into the last days of Pittsburgh Steeler center Mike Webster, putting a harrowing face on the pro football legend that fell into the pit of poverty and despair. Reduced to living in his pickup truck, suffering from massive chronic headaches and complete loss of the ability to maintain cognitive thought, he tumbled into agonizing self-abuse that cost him his home, family, and ultimately his life. Other former team-mates watched as they suffered similar symptoms in various degrees, but cat-scan technology of the time revealed no obvious disorder.

Albert Brooks lends his dry, sarcastic wit to the role of Dr. Cyril Wecht, supervisor of the Allegheny County Coroner’s Office. Wecht trusts the judgment of his quirky pathologist and stands by him while delivering the sober warning, “The NFL is so big they own a day of the week. People used to go to church on Sunday, now they watch football.”

Trapped in an antagonizing purgatory, Alec Baldwin delivers pure, heartfelt emotion to the role of Dr. Julian Bailes, a former NFL team doctor now in private practice. Like so many of us, Bailes grew up on the passion for football and to become a team doctor was a dream come true. However, the reality became bittersweet beyond imagination as he watched the players he loved beg him to use any means available to keep them in the game. The vicious cycle of pain-killing that ultimately reduced them to a shadow of themselves was more than he could live with, forcing him to leave his broken dream behind. Mike Webster was his personal friend, and he desperately tried to help but was at a loss on how to proceed.

Gugu Mbatha-Raw shines as Prema, the strong but soft-spoken wife of Omalu that stands beside him through his inner struggles, as well as the onslaught of threats and counter-attacks on his work and findings. They epitomize the example of young people who come to America filled with enormous aspirations only to find how truly difficult acceptance and respect can be to obtain.

An impressive cast list fills out the remaining roles of players and executives, combining to show the long reach and muscle of the National Football League. The double-edged sword of all the positive things football brings to our society and lifestyle are well showcased, but Omalu is unrelenting in his quest to bring the truth to light. Within his own home, he lives with the irony that his wife admires the grace and power of the pro football player, watching and shouting at the television as so many of us do. Yet in these moments of awe and elation, she sees the pressing, vital need of her husband’s research.

Ultimately, as more players fell, the results of Omalu’s findings could not be denied.

This is a powerful and moving film about the human condition of those we too often view as super-human, and the impact of life off the field. The people tasked with the health of football players face the monumental dilemma of providing care for gladiators who want nothing more than to return to the fight. Their mindset in most cases is all they have ever known, and a goal they have pursued with a fiery strength of will.

Dr. Bennet Omalu reached out with gentle, caring hands to embrace a fallen giant, and with fierce loyalty to the spirit of his patient, he provided the humane immortality Mike Webster could not communicate to the world.

Not only is Concussion Will Smith’s finest hour, it is the revelation of a painful reality that cannot be spoken loud enough. This is a MUST-SEE film for any fan of pro football, if only to showcase that for all the thrills these magnificent athletes display in the hundred-yard arena, at end of the day they are as human as any of us. The sunset of their lives deserves the dignity of what they sacrificed for the game, and the entertainment of the millions of fans who watched them.

-T. August Green