Arts & Culture
Concussion: A Hard-Hitting Look at the NFL
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“Let’s say you run a multibillion-dollar football league. And let’s say the scientific community — starting with one young pathologist in Pittsburgh and growing into a chorus of neuroscientists across the country — comes to you and says concussions are making your players crazy, crazy enough to kill themselves, and here, in these slices of brain tissue, is the proof. Do you join these scientists and try to solve the problem, or do you use your power to discredit them?”
This is the opening of a GQ article called “Game Brain” by Jeanne Marie Laskas. “Game Brain” serves as the main source material for the sports drama Concussion, a film that describes the controversy surrounding the NFL’s attempt to ignore the danger of the title injury. Directed by Peter Landesman, the film focuses on the major findings of Dr. Bennet Omalu (Will Smith), who noted the severe damage that concussions can cause professional football players.