Movies: Concussion
Jan. 13th, 2016 10:52 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dewlineThis was indeed my first movie to watch in 2016 at the cinema.
It builds upon the GQ article "Game Brain" by Jeanne Marie Laskas, dealing with brain damage as suffered by NFL players and documented in the research of Dr. Bennet Omalu.
Frankly, it hits a little too close to home. There was a point in my childhood where I was a fan of the Pittsburgh Steelers - yes, that goes against the grain of my CFL Saskatchewan Roughriders fandom, but I was in grade school then - and Mike Webster was the offensive center in those days.
Something else: Webster was played by - of all people! - David Morse. AKA "Dr. Jack Morrison" from St. Elsewhere...a show I watched fairly closely from the tail end of its first season right up to the Snow Globe Moment. Morse's performance, as much as Will Smith's, is an example of the chameleon skill one needs to disappear into any given role as an actor.
This movie is one more link in the chain of consequences working themselves out across North America as a result of Dr. Omalu's work on chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). The consequences have already reached from the NFL to the CFL and NHL as well as well as the leagues supplying those three organizations with their talent. Possibly other pro sports organizations as well.
I needed to see this. The ending is an uncertain one, and the topic sombre, but it matters.
I'll close with this note to Dr. Omalu on the off-chance that he should see this: thank you. You said a thing that we - humanity - needed to hear, however unpleasant it was.
It builds upon the GQ article "Game Brain" by Jeanne Marie Laskas, dealing with brain damage as suffered by NFL players and documented in the research of Dr. Bennet Omalu.
Frankly, it hits a little too close to home. There was a point in my childhood where I was a fan of the Pittsburgh Steelers - yes, that goes against the grain of my CFL Saskatchewan Roughriders fandom, but I was in grade school then - and Mike Webster was the offensive center in those days.
Something else: Webster was played by - of all people! - David Morse. AKA "Dr. Jack Morrison" from St. Elsewhere...a show I watched fairly closely from the tail end of its first season right up to the Snow Globe Moment. Morse's performance, as much as Will Smith's, is an example of the chameleon skill one needs to disappear into any given role as an actor.
This movie is one more link in the chain of consequences working themselves out across North America as a result of Dr. Omalu's work on chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). The consequences have already reached from the NFL to the CFL and NHL as well as well as the leagues supplying those three organizations with their talent. Possibly other pro sports organizations as well.
I needed to see this. The ending is an uncertain one, and the topic sombre, but it matters.
I'll close with this note to Dr. Omalu on the off-chance that he should see this: thank you. You said a thing that we - humanity - needed to hear, however unpleasant it was.
