“You’ve turned on the lights and given their biggest boogeyman a name.”
Watch out, NFL, because Will Smith and producer Ridley Scott are coming after head trauma in football with their latest film, Concussion.
Just in time for the kickoff of the regular season in the National Football League comes a movie about Bennet Omalu(Smith), a doctor who located the disease troubling football players. A condition called CTE(chronic traumatic encephelopathy), where the repeated hits to the head caused the brain to be “choked”.
The film co-stars Albert Brooks and Alec Baldwin as men who warn Smith’s Omalu about the door he is walking through. A door that started with Junior Seau taking his own life by shooting himself in the chest instead of the head, a maneuver that allowed doctors like Omalu to use his brain for research. No run knows if Seau did it on purpose or not, but it was the beginning. CTE was found in Seau’s brain.
The film arrives on Christmas and features Smith in a serious role that will command Oscar attention. He features an accent and is the face of a timely film that will get people talking, whether it’s in an NFL owners meeting, a family’s kitchen table or schools across the country. Writer/director Peter Landesman knows exactly what he is doing. Putting a well known face in front of a controversial movie about one man who decided to taek something further than anyone else and challenge the most popular sport in the world.
I’ll be there to watch it. Will you? The trailer is below.
Dose of Buffa 