An increasing concern for society at large, dementia has become a recurrent theme in films and TV too. Concussion comes at the subject from an unusual angle, as it tells the story of Nigeria-born neuropathologist Dr Bennet Omalu, who identified a form of dementia which was killing an alarming number of American football players.
Working as a forensic pathologist in Pittsburgh, Omalu conducted an autopsy on former Pittsburgh Steelers superstar Mike Webster (played here by David Morse), who'd died destitute and mentally shot away at the age of 50. This prompted Omalu's identification of what he termed Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE), an Alzheimer's-like condition induced by repeated blows to the head. In boxing they call it "dementia pugilistica".
Concussion, written and directed by Peter Landesman from an original GQ article by Jeanne Marie Laskas, traces Omalu's exploration of the disease, and documents his uphill battle to get the National Football League authorities to accept his findings. After years of belligerent denial and aggressive obstruction they eventually sort of did, but despite paying big chunks of compensation managed to weasel out of taking any blame for the hideous fate of an astonishing number of players.
Will Smith plays Omalu with straight-batted decency and moral clarity (and a well-observed Nigerian accent), Alec Baldwin makes a stoical ally as former Steelers doctor Julian Bailes, and Albert Brooks reminds us of his subtle and under-used skills as Omalu's medical mentor Dr Cyril Wecht. Gugu Mbatha-Raw is nicely sympathetic as Omalu's wife Prema, and if their relationship is a bit schmaltzy, at least it brings some necessary relief from medical jargon and the unavoidable but wearisome stuff about lawsuits, committees and the like.
The DVD's "True Story" featurette includes informative interviews with all the main protagonists. Will Smith recalls how having a son who was a keen football player, and how he'd never heard of the horrific CTE, made him eager to to do the movie. The real Dr Omalu, who now works in California, gives a self-deprecating account of the real-life events, and you can see why they cast Baldwin as Julian Bailes, because they look uncannily similar.
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