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The movie also may give parents pause, according to the
filmmakers and some former players, about allowing their sons to
play the violent sport of football.
"I love football. It's graceful. We have a lot of beautiful
football in this film, purposefully," said Peter Landesman, the
director and writer of the movie, due in U.S. theaters on Dec.
25. "We're not trying to wag our finger and say, 'Don't do it.'"
Landesman added, "Sometimes the things that we love in life are
the things that kill us. We just have to make difficult
decisions about what we do with that."
Rick Walker, who played nine seasons in the National Football
League including on the Washington Redskins team that won Super
Bowl XVII in January 1983, said he hopes women, particularly
mothers, see "Concussion" because they have the ability at the
grassroots level to make the sport safer.
"Dads have already been aware of the situation, and most men
will play no matter what," said Walker, now a sports commentator
in Washington. "When you're young, moms are taking you to Pee
Wee and Pop Warner (youth leagues)."
"Mothers can be such a big influence. If they combine their
forces, they have the power to bring about change. They will
protect their babies. But with dads, it's always a macho issue,"
Walker added.
The movie tells the story of Dr. Bennet Omalu, played by Will
Smith, who fought the NFL's campaign to conceal his research on
the brain damage suffered by football players who sustain blows
to the head during games and practice.
Several dozen of the game's top players, including Hall of
Famers Mike Webster and Junior Seau, have been diagnosed after
they died with chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a
progressive degenerative brain disease associated with
repetitive blows to the head. CTE currently is diagnosed only
through brain examinations after death.
'TREND IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION'
Jeff Miller, the NFL's senior vice president of health and
safety policy, said he would be happy if the film spurs
conversation on how to prevent brain injuries.
Miller said recent rules changes, such as penalizing
helmet-to-helmet hits, have helped reduce the number of
concussions in regular season games by 34 percent over the past
three years.
"While that number does not represent success in our minds, it
certainly is a trend in the right direction," Miller said.
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Miller said when the NFL changes rules or makes it a "point of
emphasis" to limit the amount of head contact in a game, colleges,
high schools and even youth leagues take note.
The league's concussion policies came under renewed scrutiny last
month when St. Louis Rams quarterback Case Keenum was allowed to
continue playing after suffering a concussion in a game. The NFL
said it would review why Keenum was not taken off the field for
evaluation by a team doctor or an independent neuro-trauma physician
as required by its concussion protocols.
Some 5,000 former players sued the NFL over brain injuries, claiming
the multibillion-dollar league concealed the dangers of repeated
head trauma. The players agreed to a settlement that could cost the
league $1 billion, but the settlement remains tied up in the courts.
Smith, nominated for a Golden Globe award for his performance in
"Concussion," said that as a football dad, he was conflicted about
starring in the movie because he had been unaware before meeting
Omalu of the scientific research.
"I had watched my son play football for four years, and I didn't
know. And just as a parent I felt like I had to be a part of this,"
Smith said.
Smith said Omalu's quest for the truth "become our quest also to
deliver the truth. People have to know," Smith said.
In 2011, lawyer Jason Luckasevic filed the first two lawsuits
against the NFL on behalf of more than 120 retired players over
their brain injuries.
"This is not the story of the guy who is crying the blues about his
one concussion," Luckasevic said. "This is the story of guys like
Mike Webster who suffered repeated trauma, practice after practice,
day after day, game after game."
Luckasevic said in light of the movie "people will now have to make
their informed choices knowing that football is not really different
from boxing, that you can get (brain injuries) from hitting your
head thousands of times during the course of a season."
Walker, who retired from the NFL after the 1985 season, said the
league "is filthy rich and needs to focus on the survival of its
players."
All three of his boys played football. "I know I'm happier that
they're no longer playing," Walker said.
(Reporting by Steve Ginsburg in Washington; Additional reporting by
Piya Sinha-Roy in Los Angeles; Editing by Will Dunham)
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