Concussion (2015)

Dr. Bennet Omalu (Will Smith) has a million degrees and works in the coroner's office in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He loves his job, though it is a sad one, figuring out how people die. But he treats it like an art and the dead bodies are his canvas and the knives his brushes. He treats the died with dignity. When the dead body of a beloved football player, Mike Webster (David Morse) arrives on his table, Dr. Omalu is determined to figure out how he died. Mike was a Center and had a celebrated and award-winning career before falling into debt, homelessness and sniffing glue. Dr. Omalu wants certain tests performed on him and will even pay for them out of his own pocket, which he does, to the tune of twenty thousand dollars. Shocking. It is determined that Mike died of a disease abbreviated CTE, from all the concussions he suffered from his many years of playing football. And he's not alone. Several others have committed suicide or suffered from abusive-like tendencies as a result of their injuries. They hear voices in their heads. But Dr. Omalu won't be heard, even though he has some powerful friends, including the former doctor to the Pittsburgh Steelers, Dr. Julian Bailes (Alec Baldwin, with a wavering accent) and his supportive boss Dr. Cyril Wecht (Albert Brooks), but the commission is furious with his findings and calls them false and him a quack. He is taking on one of America's most lucrative businesses but he wants them to work together to find something that will fix the extreme amount of concussions received by football players.
Playing alongside this main plot is the tender love story of Dr. Omalu and the woman he would eventually marry, Prema (Gugu Mbatha-Raw, great nailing her accent). A priest introduces the two at church as Prema has just arrived to Pittsburgh from Kenya and needs a place to stay. A set-up if there ever was one. Why does that never happen to me? Moving on. The most awkward scene is right after Dr. Omalu's article on his findings is published and Prema takes him out to celebrate. Yes, Will Smith is awkward and stiff in a hip hop club. Never thought I'd see that. After they return home, he even asks if he can kiss her. No one does that. But his proposal is awkward. He takes her to the place where he wishes to build a house. After all, the schools are good and he sees good in her. Eventually, love will come along. But it doesn't show the wedding, you just assume they are married because you see Dr. Omalu wearing a wedding ring. Dr. Omalu still has many struggles but Prema supports him, saying that he must speak for the dead. Still, that is a bitter pill to swallow as Prema suffers a late-term miscarriage after being followed right after. It is a devastating scene. Dr. Wecht is fired and charged with some quack charges.
For a few years. the Omalus stay out of the limelight, moving to California and finally having a healthy little girl.
But then, a sad miracle happens. One of the executives with the Players Association, who previously denied that anything could be wrong, had committed suicide and donated his brain to science. Finally, the NFL is taking his word seriously but changes are slow to come. Though the NFL is sued by countless families, they settle and never release how long they have known about the connection to head injuries. Improvements need to be made as there is no way to determine if an athlete suffered from CTE until after they have expired. It is a shame that the NFL didn't take the word of an African doctor more seriously earlier.
Now, the film is good, though, of course, I have a few problems with it. At the end, when Dr. Omalu addresses the commission, Mike Webster is there in the audience despite being dead. Yes, that is weird, but it didn't bother me, He was finally getting the justice he deserved. I also thought that Dr. Omalu should have nicer to Dr. Bailes, who really did stick his neck out for him and needed to get the point across to the NFL, but Dr. Omalu wished to do it himself. Sure, they should have heard his speak, but it wasn't Dr. Bailes's fault. The ending is also squishy, with Dr. Omalu turning down a great job in Washington D.C. because it means he will no longer have to perform autopsies. While returning home, he drives by a high school football practice where methods of hitting haven't changed. And the film just ends.
Still, it was a great film and Smith probably should have been nominated for an Oscar as he was amazing with a steady accent and mannerisms throughout. I also liked that it took on football, head on. Football does indeed own a day of the week and it shouldn't. Nothing should be that important to risk the health of human beings just before some people worship the sport. I hope ten percent of mothers do keep their sons from playing football, then the sport will eventually die out. This will happen sooner than a resolution is found. Surely, there are ways to design a safer helmet or something like that. Grade: A-