In the movie, Will Smith does a pretty amazing job portraying Dr. Bennett Omalu. Of course he did... He's Will Smith. He could be cast as a paper bag and do a fantastic job. I digress... The whole movie was well cast, well directed, and seemed to follow the events very well. I was actually really upset at first that I was going to have to watch the movie, but when one of my players asked me "where are we?" and I answered "they just published the journal article", I knew I was sucked in. The movie was amazing. It really was. I learned a lot about the whole case, and it really opened my eyes about how all of it went down. I mean, the NFL really DID want to cover up the issue on concussions. They KNEW how terrible it was getting and they still didn't do anything about it.
Now, when movie was being advertised, I did my share of research. I researched who died from cerebral traumatic encephelopathy (CTE) and how they declined. I read about the NFL and what they did to cover it up. All of the articles online say that it wasn't really a cover up and they really didn't know how bad it was. But the movie shows otherwise. I read about Mike Webster and Terry Long and the others. There is just so much information out there about what happened now that the movie is out. But why does it still make me wonder about how this movie portrayed the medical staff? I know that Dr. Maroon was actually not a villain, though he was portrayed as such in the movie. He did not resist Dr. Omalu. In fact, he brought it to the attention of the NFL when he understood what was going on. They portray athletic trainers, or "trainers" in the movie, as people that "just tape knees". It's kind of an embarrassment to the profession, especially now that it's on this huge stage. I know that the use of athletic trainers in this movie is very minimal, and we are not the people that they are focusing on. But that one little line bugged me and every other athletic trainer that has seen it. The movie shows that Dr. Omalu wants to fold the NFL - get rid of it completely. This is not actually something that he wanted to happen. He wanted the players to have the knowledge of what could happen to them. The director says that it is an "artistic representation" of what happened and that's why some things are not true to the reality of what happened. Really? So you're going to make things up to get a reaction from audiences? That's what makes me mad about this movie.
If I wasn't a healthcare professional, I probably would have enjoyed the movie, flaws and all.
Read the article below about Mike Webster. It's a good one. Interesting to learn about his life.
Comment below if you have anything else to add to this topic!!
http://www.rd.com/health/conditions/mike-webster-brain-injury/
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