Concussion
Some footage of football games, a tense, effective music, and a football hero who talks about his life experience to an enthusiastic audience, with the "heroic style" typical of US sport-related films; then, a few scenes later, we find the same person, Mike Webster, in a pitiful state, unrecognizable, sniffing glue on the back seat of his car in a landfill. So starts Concussion, the new film about sport and medical topics, released in the US in December, but here a few days ago.
The director is Peter Landesman, still little known, but extraordinarily active in many areas, from journalism to painting, to scripts; the producer is, however, Ridley Scott, who must have sensed the strong potential of this story. The Italian title (Zona d'ombra) does not correspond to the original English one, Concussion, which refers to the multiple head traumas suffered by football players. The story based on real facts, tells about the discovery of CTE, Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, and its discoverer, dott. Bennet Omalu, Nigerian, now naturalized American and a professor at the University of California, Davis. Omalu, starring Will Smith, is the forensic pathologist conducting an autopsy on Mike Webster, who died at age 50, and decides to conduct costly studies at his own expense on Webster's brain. In fact: despite that the TAC does not reveal anything abnormal, new exams indicate an abnormal amount of tau protein, the same one that accumulates in the brains of Alzheimer's patients and block their functioning.
Bennet Omalu continues to study and conduct autopsies, then, in collaboration with other neuropathologists, he publishes some scientific articles: however, the NFL (National Football League) is not slow to find in his studies a colossal danger to football in general and to its turnover of millions of dollars in particular, so that it starts to boycott him. Slanders, insults, threats, troubles with the FBI ... But little by little the truth makes its way. Will Smith unusually acts in the title role, a dramatic one, but in a convincing way; at his side, Alec Baldwin plays with class dott.Julian Bailes, who collaborated with doc.Omalu. I also really loved the brief interpretation by David Morse in the role of Mike Webster.
The film is not particularly original: it retrieves the usual "titanic American" story, in which the individual stands against the corrupt system. Yet, it lacks in emphasis and appears genuine, very real. The camera lingers on the faces in detail shots or close-ups, thereby achieving very intense effects: the soundtrack, by J. Newton Howard (the one who signed the soundtrack of Pretty woman, for instance) cooperates with skill to give tension to the narrative. The script has a classic set, in progression, but is well-structured; the insert of archive images emphasizes the realistic effect. In my opinion, the film is well done and important, especially for the message it conveys.
What struck me the most is in it are some profound insights. We often see in the shots a discreet presence: the Crucifix, or even the Bible. The same Omalu, a practicing Catholic (at the beginning of the film, he is at the Sunday Mass in his parish), often refers to God in his speeches, and clarifies how faith is for him a source of deep motivation. In this sense, the film speaks of faith in a genuine way, much more than other movies directly dedicated to the subject. At the same time, he declares his steadfast commitment to scientific truth: throughout the story, Omalu fights to reveal it, saving the lives of many people. It 's great to see how these two truths, of different levels, intersect and support each another. Bennet Omalu remains a fine and true figure; the story shows that an African, a Nigerian, is to remind Americans of the values we should believe in, above all, how to give the best of ourselves, or the importance of family, science, faith.
An explicit question meanders throughout the film: the United States claim to be a country with Christian roots, but what did they do of these roots? In particular, what has a Sunday become? Those who watch the film keeping in mind USA religious culture, can not but remember the third commandment: "Remember to keep holy the Sabbath." "To sanctify the feast" is not just resting our ass on the benches of a church (especially if we do not understand why), but, above all, to recognize that, as human beings, we have limits and need to devote the holiday to rest and the spirit, which we need. Instead, the film makes clear in no uncertain terms, that in the US on Sunday not only a sport, such as football, is set in motion, but at the expense of this one, an impressive machine to grind millions of dollars (when a game must be moved from Sunday to Tuesday, remembers Alec Baldwin, the NFL claims to be even stronger than the Almighty), and this, regardless of the health of the players themselves, who then die with early dementia, or commit suicide or ruin their lives. Humans sacrificed to the god of money: this is idolatry that annihilates people; and we cannot but recall similar scandals in other sports, like the omnipresence of doping in cycling or the thousands of criminal offenses in soccer, always occurring for money. What are we doing of our world and of our sport? Faith, the commandments, science, culture tell us at different levels, but in a convergent way, our limits: beyond those limits there is the abyss, because the human being is transformed into an executioner for the human being.
Julian Bailes
Appendix
Concussion is based on a true story, the discovery of CTE (Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy) in football players: it can b diagnosed even in players of other sports (rugby, hockey) or in war veterans who they received many blows to their head. The characters mentioned in the film are real people, interpreted, among others, by very similar actors. Bennet Omalu, Nigerian, is real: here you can find his CV, which is about sixty pages long: http://www.ucdmc.ucdavis.edu/pathology/our_team/faculty/OmaluB.html.
And neurosurgeon dott.Julian Bailes is real, who works with Omalu: http://www.concussiontreatment.com/julian_bailes.htmlforensic pathologist, internationally renowned, Cyril Wecht, mentor of B.Omalu, and who was, for example, also a consultant in the autopsy of John and Robert Kennedy:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyril_Wecht
as well as neurosurgeon Joseph Maroon, whose position in the film is more difficult:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_MaroonSee. The real doctors also behind the movie Concussion speak out,http://www.cbsnews.com/news/concussion-movie-doctors-speak-out-nfl-cte/
The film is based on the article Game brain, by J.M.Laskas in GQ, found here: http://www.gq.com/story/nfl-players-brain-dementia-study-memory-concussionsIn the article you will find pictures of both Omalu and Bailes.
Football players appearing in the film were real people and they died exactly as reported (Mike Webster of heart attack, Terry Long after drinking antifreeze, Justin Strzelczyk in an accident while running against traffic on the highway, Dave Duerson in a suicide etc.):Mike Webster: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_WebsterTerry Long: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Long_(American_football)Justin Strzelczyk: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Justin_StrzelczykAndre Waters: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andre_WatersDave Duerson: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dave_Duerson
Today dott.Omalu is head of a foundation that studies the CTE:http://bennetomalufoundation.org/about-the-foundation/
Ridley Scott, Peter Landesman, Janet Scott, Jeanne Marie Laskas, ie producers and director of the film, as well as the journalist of the article Game Brain, are part of the board of the foundation.
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