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 "Concussion," out in U.S. theaters on Christmas Day, stars
Will Smith as Nigerian forensic pathologist Dr. Bennet Omalu,
who uncovered the degenerative brain disease chronic traumatic
encephalopathy (CTE) in former Pittsburgh football players that
died sudden and tragic deaths.
The Sony Pictures film, garnering awards buzz especially for
Smith's performance, comes at a time where head trauma is a hot
button topic in the multi-million dollar NFL industry.
A change could be taking place at a grassroots level, however,
as writer-director Peter Landesman said the numbers for Pop
Warner football, a children's football league, are "down as much
as 35 percent."
"Those elite athletes at six, seven years old are not playing
football; they're wrestling, they're running, they're playing
lacrosse," he said.
"Those kids will not show up in the NFL, that number is only
going to get bigger. (There's a) seismic change coming for the
sport," he added.
The director said the film is meant to give audiences
information so that they can make up their own minds about the
safety of the sport.
"I would never tell another parent or another teenager or adult
what to do," he said. "The film embraces what a conflicting
problem this is."
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"Concussion" explores Omalu's perseverance to make his CTE research
known to the NFL, but the corporation, portrayed as a faceless, and
at times, manipulative Goliath, tries to quash his findings -
details that Landesman said he uncovered through his own sources at
the organization.
"I think that the film is a powerful indictment," he said, adding
that "the movie's also an expose" of the NFL's early cover-ups of
CTE research.
Sony this week said it will offer all NFL team owners, players and
their families free entry to screenings of "Concussion."
While the NFL did not respond for comment on the screenings, the
organization has previously said regarding the movie, "We welcome
any conversation about player health and safety."
"I think the NFL is doing everything they can do on this issue,"
Landesman said. "They have concussion protocols and they let players
talk about it. I think the problem is there's a very limited range
of things they can actually do."
(Reporting by Piya Sinha-Roy; Editing by Sandra Maler)
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