CONCUSSION – The Review

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CONCUSSION is the film that the NFL won’t want you to see. Not because it has new information about the link between football and a serious form of dementia called chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) but because it serves as a reminder, particularly to young players and their parents, of the risk in playing the nation’s most popular sport. The film dramatizes the NFL’s hostile response to the news and its rough handling of the doctor who discovered the problem. The NFL does not look good in this film, and that is bound to trouble some fans.

Will Smith plays that doctor, Dr. Bennet Omalu, a forensic pathologist originally from Nigeria who discovered CTE. A brilliant man with a string of degrees, Dr. Omalu was working for the Allegheny County Coroner’s office in Pittsburgh when he did an autopsy on former NFL star Mike Webster (David Morse), whose life had unraveled a decade after retirement amid erratic behavior. Omalu knew next to nothing about football but was unsatisfied with a pat explanation about cause of death of a man only in his 50s. The thorough Omalu decided to take a microscopic look at the ex-player’s brain. What he saw shocked him, and led to his discovery of a new disease.

CONCUSSION focuses on Omalu’s story and especially on how poorly the NFL treated him. The film’s title is a bit of a misnomer, as not just concussions but cumulative smaller shocks to the brain can cause CTE as well, although concussions are the most obvious indicator of brain trauma. However, the film is rather light on medical details and it leaves out the work of other researchers who took up the topic following Omalu’s discovery. Instead, the film focuses more on Omalu’s own story, his discovery, his immediate circle of supporters and their attempts to bring the risks to the attention of the NFL.

As Smith plays him, Omalu is a sweet, idealistic workaholic who does not allow himself much of a personal life in his pursuit of the classic immigrant’s American Dream. His boss, Dr. Cyril Wecht (Albert Brooks),  is both his mentor and role-model for how to be an American. The one social outlet he allows himself is attending church, where his pastor asks him to help another new immigrant, a beautiful former nurse from Kenya named Prema (Gugu Mbatha-Raw). Inevitably, romance blooms.

This is one of Smith’s best roles in years, and the actor does a nice job with Omalu’s accent. It is a rare chance for Smith to play a heroic character but in a more subdued, even slightly nerdy way, which he pulls off with a great deal of charm.

In his quest to bring CTE to the attention of NFL officials, Omalu is joined by former league physician, Dr. Julian Bailes, played well by Alec Baldwin apart from a Southern accent that tends to come and go. The cast also includes Eddie Marsan as Dr. Steven DeKosky, a top neurologist who co-authored Omalu’s paper on CTE, Paul Reiser as Dr. Elliot Pellman, an NFL doctor who was a central figure in the concussion crisis, and Luke Wilson as NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell.

Not only is the NFL not interested in hearing that players are at risk of a serious brain syndrome, much less that potentially all or most players face that risk, the organization is actively hostile to that message. With a multimillion-dollar entertainment empire called into question, the NFL immediately seek to discredit and then silence Omalu. As it is presented in the film, this is done in an iron-fisted, chilling manner, more expected from organized crime than a respected sports organization. The film alludes to the fact that  NFL may have been aware of brain-injury issues, and parallels are drawn with the way the tobacco industry tried to deny the health effects of smoking.

The film’s major flaw is that it cannot quite make up its mind what kind of film it wants to be – a medical procedural, corporate misbehavior expose, or an inspirational immigrant tale. It is mostly Omalu’s story, leaving out researchers who built on his discovery and how the NFL treated him. It is light on medical details of CTE and also on what the NFL might have known about players’ brain injuries. Omalu’s personal story is a classic immigrant tale, with a sweet romance to add to that appeal, but the  immigrant love story doesn’t develop the emotional  pull it should.

CONCUSSION does not make the NFL look good, but it also raises questions about the safety of football at any level, which might give parents pause about letting their kids participate. The film does not present any new information, but serves as a reminder of the headline revelations in a dramatic way. While it is not a perfect film, it is worth seeing for its potential to spark curiosity to dig further into the facts of CTE.

CONCUSSION opens in St. Louis on December 25th, 2015.

OVERALL RATING:  3 1/2 OUT OF 5 STARS