CONCUSSION (2015) Review, Will Smith, NFL

Concussion is directed by Peter Landesman (Kill The Messenger, Parkland) and stars Will Smith, David Morse, Alec Baldwin, Albert Brooks, Hill Harper, Stephen Moyer and a cast of many more.

Smith plays Dr. Bennet Omalu, a pathologist who discovers that football players suffer brain damage from playing the game, from all the hard contact that they received during their careers. In one case, he concluded that the player had received over 70,000 hits in his career.

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While Dr. Omalu examinations uncover hard, scientific evidence of what the game was doing to players, the NFL stepped up and said football does not cause concussions, all the while, they realized exactly what was happening as the organization works to cover up his findings.

But as it was put in the film, NFL owns a day, and has 20 million fans who crave football as much as they crave food.

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Sadly, despite Rotten Tomatoes score of 61% and IMDb users rating it at a 7.1/10, this film barely made enough money at the box office, making just under $50 million. Which is no surprise, since folks want to see explosions and fantasy, and not something based in fact. Those films are relegated to NatGeo channel and the like.

But to watch Smith portray Omalu is absolutely fascinating, while watching the billion dollar sports industry completely undermine all of Omalu's hard work.


The film mixes in the science, the personal stories and professional struggles that Omalu, his peers and family go through.

It's an excellent film.

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A far as this issue of football causing concussions is concerned, it's obvious that when you smash your head into things over and over, it's bound to cause issues. THe very issues that Dr. Omalu has discovered and brought to light.

Dr Omalu, at present, works at UC Davis as a clinical professor of medical pathology and labratory medicine. Meanwhile, closing credits showd that the NFL estimates that 28% of their players could suffer from CTE. Duh!


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bennet_Omalu

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chronic_traumatic_encephalopathy

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