Hard-hitting doc Head Games hammers pro sports' legacy of brain-damaging head injuries
by Bilge Ebiri
Head Games, the latest documentary from Hoop Dreams director Steve James, offers a polished, convincing argument that head injuries and traumatic concussions are a major problem in the sports world — one that the professional leagues are not doing enough to combat. As such, James has set himself up with a bit of a filmmaking challenge. His is a dry, perhaps even scolding, perspective: after all, violent hits are one of the reasons so many people watch football, hockey, boxing, etc. (So we can’t take much pleasure in the reams of sports footage here of athletes going down.)
But James is not just a good investigator and shooter. He’s a great storyteller as well, and he takes a concept that might have seemed dour in the hands of a less talented filmmaker and turns it into a journey. Here, he follows retired football player and wrestler Chris Nowinski, an engaging guide (and case study) who reflects on his discovery of the concussion problem. As James assembles a persuasive prosecutorial brief using sobering data and interviews with battered ex-players, Nowinski wages a crusade to get the sports world to pay attention and respond in a way that involves more than lip service. By the end of James' doc, you may feel that indifference is the hardest hit of all.
