This is a biographical story and now we know who Dr. Bennet Omalu is

Rating: 6/10 (18 July 2016)

There was a lot of hype about the film release Concussion including many advocates wanting to see the film nominated for a whole bunch of Academy Award nominations and subsequent Academy Award night wins. That just did not happen and there are a number of reasons as to why.
1. The film is good, but it is simply a biographical account of Dr. Bennet Omalu, a man who grew up in Nigeria and came to the United States for a better life. He acquired several degrees while continuing his medical studies in the U.S. He met his wife in the U.S. and they had two children.
2. The film is focused on Dr. Bennet Omalu as one of the city of Pittsburgh's pathologists and in the course of his duties he determines that the great Pittsburgh Steeler's Hall of Fame center, Mike Webster, death from a heart attack was actually brought on by how he suffered for years from CTE (Chronic traumatic encephalopathy).
3. If you are an NFL football fan as I am, you may be disappointed since the films' story is surrounding the struggle by Dr. Bennet Omalu (played by Will Smith) to bring to the forefront the real violence of the NFL game of football which is every child's dream to not only be a player and part of the game of football, but to get to the top of the Monday Night Football game of the week, most of these children will suffer brain damage as a result of multiple blows to the head caused by CTE (Chronic traumatic encephalopathy).
4. Dr. Omalu wins over a former doctor of the Pittsburgh Steelers organization whose name is Dr. Julian Bailes (played by Alec Baldwin). Since 1994, he has been a neurological consultant to the NFL Players' Association (NFLPA), which has supported research on the effects of head injuries on professional athletes. He recognizes that Dr. Omalu is correct in his findings which is causing some retired NFL players to commit suicide to avoid any further pain and suffering not only to themselves, but the pain and suffering extended to their families. Between the two doctors they become very vocal in making the world aware (And especially the NFL players association) that NFL players are subjected to CTE.
5. Obviously the NFL owners do not want this type of negative medical information to become the focal point of how dangerous the game of football is right from the grassroots of kiddy football, through to high school, to NCAA football, to the pinnacle of NFL football. So there is a tidbit of information in Dr. Bennet Omalu's life story that with a cheering musical score sounding in the background, we envision a David versus Goliath themed film. Unfortunately there are very few factual pieces of information provided through the film such as the stream of high paid lawyers that the NFL hired to get rid of this nuisance to their great game of NFL football and the billions of dollars of revenue gained by the NFL owners through the gate receipts, merchandise sales and especially the television rights revenue. I guess the producers were fully aware that the NFL owners and their lawyers had advised the producers to be very, very cautious about any and all information they included in the film or be prepared for a litigation battle between the NFL owners deep pockets and the films producers.
The film's closing scene is the announcement that in 2015 Dr. Bennet Omalu received his U.S. citizenship. Not exactly an Academy award winning storyline. To summarize, the film did not do great at the box office and barely recovered the 35 million dollar budget at the gate. Fans do not care about film critics likes or dislikes, Academy Award nominations or not. Fans want to be entertained and simply put this biographical story on the cause and effect of CTE (Chronic traumatic encephalopathy) that was brought to the publics' attention by Dr. Bennet Omalu did not resonate into box office dollars, nor into any Academy Award nominations. What it did bring to light though was an offer of one billion dollars by the NFL owners to the NFL Players Association to resolve the matter in the courts. The NFL Players Association owe a great deal of gratitude to Dr. Bennet Omalu, but the film itself, is worth a watch for historical purposes, but not for any particular superb acting or storyline since this is a biography and Dr. Bennet Omalu's story is his own.
I give the film a 6 out of 10 rating.