'Repetitive head trauma chokes the brain! And turns man into something else.'

Rating: 10/10 (17 July 2016)

Peter Landesman wrote (with Jeanne Marie Laskas) and directed this very important film about withholding public awareness of a devastating associated after effect of the game of football. It is surprising that it did not earn academy awards – especially for star Will Smith. But that fact may be tied to the desire to remain uninformed about adverse effects of the country's national sport – and all the money and crowds and media coverage that accompany the sport.
CONCUSSION is a dramatic near documentary based on the incredible true David vs. Goliath story of American immigrant Dr. Bennet Omalu (Will Smith), the brilliant forensic neuropathologist who made the first discovery of CTE, a football-related brain trauma, in a pro player and fought for the truth to be known. Omalu's emotional quest puts him at dangerous odds with one of the most powerful institutions in the world – America's form of Roman gladiators, Football. The supporting cast is excellent - Alec Baldwin as the ex- Pittsburg Steelers' team physician turned compatriot Dr. Julian Bailes, Albert Brooks as Dr Cyril Wecht who supports Dr Omalu's research, Gugu Mbatha-Raw as Dr Omalu's devoted wife, David Morse as Mike Webster whose autopsy at his death provides the initial brain material for Dr Omalu's discovery of Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, in addition to major players Eddie Marsan, Adewale Akinnouye-Agbaje, Paul Reiser and Luke Wilson.
The film is extraordinarily well done, factual without being sensational, and places before the public a very serious problem intimately connected to the country's national sport. The NFL will not be happy but the audience will.