Impressive

Rating: 8/10 (10 December 2016)

Dr Bennet Omalu (Will Smith) is a forensic pathologist originally from Nigeria who is now working in America. When former NFL player Mike Webster (David Morse) dies from a cardiac arrest, Dr Omalu carries out an autopsy on his body and discovers damage to Webster's brain. Whilst Omalu accepts that 'cardiac arrest' is HOW Webster died he doesn't believe that it is WHY Webster died and using his own money to further look into Webster's death. However, Omalu's findings end up having big repercussions and he soon finds himself taking on the might of the NFL itself....
Call me fickle if you like but an underdog story will more than often win me over, but in this case I already knew a little bit about the subject matter at hand. Concussion highlights injuries sustained by American Football players but I do know that other sportsman have suffered other 'brain-related' injuries in other sports. It is believed that the late great Muhammad Ali's onset of Parkinson's Disease was attributable to a 'brain related' injury sustained to his head from his career in boxing, but anyone who is a fan of WWE will also be aware of the tragedy surrounding Chris Benoit - a talented and brilliant technical wrestler who back in 2007 killed his wife and child before ultimately killing himself. When they performed Benoit's autopsy the discovered that his brain was comparable to that of an 85 year old person with Alzheimer's. In both cases, these occurrences were attributable to the numerous blows to the head that both athletes had sustained so therefore the main narrative already houses a real truth about it.
Outside of my love of the film through my own personal knowledge I still found many other great things about the film such as Will Smith's performance. We're used to seeing him portraying brash, cocky and arrogant people so it was nice to see him portray a character who is both reserved and unassuming. Smith really gets into character here and actually does a pretty convincing job with the Nigerian Accent (although it does wander at times). Smith is well-supported by the likes of Baldwin and Morse who automatically add a little bit of class to the film.
The subject matter of this film already won me over, but what made it better was the fact that director and writer Landesman kept the core of the focus on Omalu and his desire to take on the NFL. Omalu ends up in a relationship with Kenyan doctor Prema Mutiso (Gugu Mbatha-Raw), but this is always in the background and never becomes a sub-plot. Landesman wisely introduces her and includes her in Omalu's life, but never in such a way that it becomes a detriment to the story - mercifully there's never any soapy mush between the two of them.
I can imagine that a film such as Concussion may divide audiences as some may see it as some sort of anti-propaganda against the NFL and American Football in itself. As for me, I see it as being an eye-opener and the fact that the likes of Muhammad Ali and Chris Benoit have shown similar symptoms as the NFL players mentioned in this film only goes to show what kind of an impact Omalu's findings have had, not just in American Football, but in many sports which contain lots of physical contact. I'm not claiming this film is perfect - it is a tad forceful and heavy-handed in dealing with its subject matter, but it's a film that definitely left a lasting impression on this viewer.