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| Will Smith |
The film is based on the true
story of Dr. Bennet Omalu, the Nigerian-born forensic
pathologist who first identified the devastating impact of repetitive head
injuries on N.F.L. players. It’s a fairly traditional Hollywood story of
injustice and “David versus Goliath,” as writer-director Peter Landesman
puts it in his Sports
Illustrated interview, but with a grim twist even a decade after
Omalu’s discoveries, head injuries are only
occasionally discussed with the same passion as, say, Deflategate. (The
ongoing New England Patriots scandal, fittingly enough, actually gets top
billing in the column where the Concussiontrailer debuted.)
Concussion can be
pretty accurately marketed as “The movie the N.F.L. doesn’t want you to see,”
and with Smith in the lead role and a plum December 25 release date, it has all
the makings of a big four-quadrant holiday smash. But will the same people who
just spent all of Thanksgiving Day watching professional football be ready to
see the sport’s undeniable dark side? While we wait for that answer, read the GQ
story on which the film was based—though it might make it a little harder
to enjoy N.F.L. opening day a few weeks from now.
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