I screened the Will Smith movie "Concussion," which opened Friday, weeks ago and came away with these thoughts:
1. Should you see it? Yes.
That's the first thing people ask and my answer has been constant: It's not a film football fans want to see, but it's a film football fans should see.
In brief, the movie is about real-life Dr. Bennet Omalu, a pathologist from Nigeria (and therefore naive about Americans and their love of football) who helped discover CTE, the brain disease found in many deceased players, including Pahokee’s Andre Waters and ex-Dolphin Junior Seau.
Without spoiling anything, the story boils down to how Omalu thought his work would be appreciated and welcomed by the NFL only to be met with scorn by a money-making machine that, in the words of the film, “owns a day of the week.”
It’s a sobering reminder that there is a price for the entertainment we love on Sundays.
2. Regarding that price that's paid, what I would say to hard-liners who whine about how the safety rules have changed the game is: A) That's the plan; and B) Shut up. Are you seriously putting your appetite for violent entertainment above the health, well-being and/or lives of these men? If you are, there's a word for that: barbaric.
3. The film is based on a true story, and the real Dr. Julian Bailes — another key figure in the film — said on a conference call with reporters that he found the movie to be very factual overall, with the lone objection being the depiction of Dr. Joseph Maroon as a CTE-denier to be unfair.
4. Omalu was the doctor who examined Waters' brain and found CTE.
"Football killed him," he told the Post in 2010.
5. The loudest objections thus far have come from those close to Dave Duerson and Waters over a scene in which Waters desperately seeks some form of assistance from Duerson, who at the time was on the board that heard former players' disability claims.
Duerson’s son said the film makes his late father seem cold and unwilling to provide help that could have prevented Waters’ death.
Jerrold Colton, Waters’ attorney and close friend, has seen the film. He told the Post he was “outraged” at the depiction of Waters as a “street person” virtually out of control. Colton said the exchange with Duerson never took place and that the film could have gotten its point across by sticking to the facts.
Many of those close to Waters say he had plenty of money via deferred income from the Eagles and that his suicide may have been the result of his inability to land a coaching job in the NFL or from missing his children. Waters is widely described as a cheerful man in direct contrast to his physical playing style.
Waters’ niece, Terrica Walker, originally told the Post she was eager to see the film, but in the past couple of days she received information from someone who had seen it and told her the depiction was one of “a thug and a beggar.” Walker therefore is as upset as Colton.
“I’m enraged, disheartened, upset and totally powerless,” she wrote in an email to the Post. “What stings is the fact that that simply was not true of him. How can they be so careless with a person’s life?”
Walker expressed concern for Waters’ children and the effect the “false representation” would have on them.
6. So far, a request from writer/director Peter Landesman for clarification on how the Waters character was compiled has not produced a comment.
The New York Times reported in August that Landesman altered the film to avoid antagonizing the league. Landesman disputed that report to The Associated Press.
7. I contacted the NFL for a comment about the film. Predictably, the statement received in response talked about the many rule changes now in place and the concussion protocol. All admirable, but nothing addressing the central issue of how much of an obstructionist the league and Commissioner Roger Goodell were toward Omalu in the beginning. Pretending it doesn't exist won't make it go away.
8. While the league has made strides with the concussion issue, it must be considered a case of awful timing that as the film is released, ESPN is reporting that the league is pulling out from funding a study on football-related head trauma by Boston University — which has been at the forefront of medical advances on this subject.
9. The real Omalu does try to make a connection with the bodies he exams, but he doesn't actually speak to them, as Smith does in the film. He keeps those thoughts to himself.
10. Omalu was born in Nigeria during an air raid and his mother was hit by shrapnel during his birth.
Smith—nominated for a Golden Globe for his portrayal of Omalu—said, “To go from there, to go through the suffering of bringing this story to the American public, and then to have your life story told through a Hollywood film – that’s a beautiful hero’s journey.”
Omalu still finds it hard to believe he has such a role in NFL history.
“This cannot be – a poor African boy like me, coming to America, where you have the largest concentration of brilliant minds – I’m the first to see this?” he said. “It’s not possible.”
Final thought:
Does Omalu deserve recognition as a special contributor to the game by the Pro Football Hall of Fame? Only someone who looks at this with the same naiveté that Omalu had when this journey began would say yes.
But how many others can say they saved and enriched as many lives of football players and their families as this man?
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