"Concussion" Movie Review

This movie was absolutely magnificent. It was pretty intense. Will Smith did an incredible job playing Dr. Bennett Omalu.

Dr. Omalu is a Nigerian forensic pathologist who ends up doing the autopsy for the famous Pittsburgh Steelers player Mike Webster. Mr. Webster essentially began going crazy before he died and no one could figure out what was going on. He was a drug addict, he was hallucinating, and even tasing himself with a taser. Dr. Omalu found that the cause of Webster's death was head trauma due to concussions. He explains what happens to the brain when we get hit in the head and it is actually pretty scary. He says that hummingbirds wrap their tongue around their brain as a protective measure when they hit their heads and that rams have "padding" to protect their brains when they collide. Humans have no such thing. Our brains just gets smashed and it can only handle so much. Dr. Omalu estimated that Webster had sustained over 70,000 hits to the head in his lifetime. No wonder he lost his mind.

After Dr. Omalu and his colleagues publish their findings, the NFL is quick to shut them down and essentially say that they are wrong. The Steelers former team doctor works alongside Dr. Omalu and proves to be quite the ally. More football players die and Dr. Omalu's test results all come back in support of his hypothesis. The NFL continues to deny it and comes after Dr. Omalu and his family. Dr. Omalu is forced out of Pittsburgh and relocates to California with his wife. a few years later another famous football player commits suicide, but shoots himself in the chest with the specific purpose of Dr. Omalu studying his brain. The same conclusion is found.

Dr. Omalu basically forced the NFL to acknowledge what can happen to players after they play football for so long. Supposedly the NFL already knew about this, but they withheld the information from their players which is pretty shady.

I completely understand why Will Smith was nominated for a Golden Globe award for this role and I hope he wins it- he was truly amazing. I could care less about football and I enjoyed every minute of this movie. It's a must watch!