Night At The Movies: Head Games

I feel pretty lucky living in Canada in that we have some incredibly good hockey-related programming being produced without the actual game being played. TSN will be carrying the World Junior Championships at the end of the month, and those broadcasts are amongst the best on the planet. The CBC was always responsible for Hockey Night In Canada, but with no hockey being played they have allowed other programs, such as This Hour Has 22 Minutes, to produce some quality segments about the game. Tonight, though, I took in one of the best documentaries on concussions I have ever seen, and I have the CBC's The Passionate Eye for showing this excellent piece of journalism.

The film shown was entitled Head Games, and it featured interviews with Keith Primeau and Dr. Ruben Echemendia amongst those from the hockey world interviewed for the documentary. Primeau, as you may know, was forced to retire from hockey due to his battle with concussion-related problems while Dr. Ruben Echemendia is the Director of the NHL/NHLPA Concussion Working Group. Primeau got a lot of the airtime committed to the hockey side of the story, and he revealed that he's still affected by some symptoms amongst all that about which he spoke.

The trailer for this documentary is below. There are a lot of great moments in Head Games where people say things about concussions that will almost make your jaw hit the floor, and I assure you that the trailer doesn't show any of these.

While the full movie would have been great to find online, you can actually get yourself a DVD copy of Head Games by hitting going over to the Head Games website and getting yourself a copy. DVD copies are $13.99 while the Blu-Ray copies are $18.99. To make that offer a little sweeter, though, if you use the code HEADGAMESCBC when checking out, you can save yourself 10% off the price! Solid deal, right? Head Games was named the Best Documentary at the 2012 Boston Film Festival and was an Official Selection at the 2012 International Documentary Film Festival in Amsterdam. A vast number of highly-respected film critics gave Head Games some very favorable reviews. Sounds like it might be good, so what are you waiting for if you have any interest in the epidemic of concussions? Inspired by events from the book Head Games written by former football player and WWE wrestler Christopher Nowinski, Head Games the film will open your eyes to some of the incredible research being done and some of the scary facts that doctors have found out about concussions and the long-term effects they have on a player's day-to-day life. It was, in my opinion, one of the best documentaries across any topic that I have seen to date. My advice? Do yourself a favor, pick up a copy of Head Games, and decide for yourself when to draw the line when it comes to living life with a healthy brain and appearing on SportsCenter for that one big hit. It's an easy line to draw for me now, and I'll be much more careful with my own brain from this point forward.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!