Spotlight is
a must-see film for anyone remotely concerned with the massive cover-up of
pedophilia in the world’s religious institutions, particularly the Catholic
Church. The story centers on the four-person investigative reporting team of
The Boston Globe, known as Spotlight, who in 2001, cracked the case and
figuratively opened a Pandora’s box of evil too horrible for most people to
fathom. Fortunately, the Academy of Motion Pictures honored the movie with a Best
Picture win for 2016, so hopefully more theaters will feature it in the coming
months.
Spotlight is a cerebral
film that requires the viewer to be alert throughout every scene. It reminds me
of a giant jigsaw puzzle, which may seem confusing at first, but comes together
in the end and paints a glorious picture. The story starts off with Marty Baron
(Liev Schrieber), who arrives from Florida as the newly appointed
editor-in-chief of the Globe. At first, he seems boring and demure but soon
makes it clear that he wants to flesh out stories that may not be too
comfortable for the typical Bostonian. Case-in-point, he asks the Spotlight
team to put a hundred percent of their efforts into a story by a fellow Globe
columnist regarding sexual abuse allegations of Catholic priests in the Boston
area.
Walter Robinson or Robby (Michael
Keaton), head of Spotlight, and his team of independent journalists reluctantly
agree to move forward with the story, harboring doubts as to whether anything
will come of it. The power of the Catholic Church and its influence on the
community make things difficult to get the information needed, but finally,
victims come forward and a case is made against several priests in the area.
However, Baron wants more. He isn’t satisfied with an expose of a handful of
wayward clergy that the Church can summarily sweep under the rug. He wants to
dig deeper and get at the conspiracy/cover-up/criminal policy of moving corrupt
priests from parish to parish without any reprisals and/or warnings to future
victims.
With no agenda up their sleeve other
than to report the truth, the team sets out to uncover the story. Besides
Robinson, there is Michael Rezendes (Mark Ruffalo), Sachia OPfeiffer (Rachel
McAdams), and Matt Carroll (Brian d’Arcy James), all of whom are true patriots
and heroes of mankind. Each of us are indebted to them for their courage and
tenacity.
Keaton and Ruffalo emerge as the leads
in the film, with McAdams bringing in a close second. Ruffalo comes across as
quirky and obsessive with a penchant for late night pizzas and all-night frantic
research binges that make the viewer question his competence. But he proves his
worth by relentlessly pursuing a victims’ attorney, Mitchell Garabedian (Stanley Tucci), who happens to be sitting on detailed court
documents which could prove their case. However, the problem is the documents
have been removed from the public record with no evidence of their whereabouts.
When McAdams lands an unexpected
confession from a retired priest, the revelation hits the team that they are
dealing with a broad, sophisticated cover-up that has been in existence for
decades—just as Baron suspected. After months of piecing together the evidence,
along with a bit of clever lawyering on Ruffalo’s part, the crucial court documents
are recovered and the story is fully baked. Hundreds of perpetrators are
implicated, with thousands of victims in their wake, and all fingers point to
Cardinal Law of the Archdiocese of Boston. From then on, it is a race to
publication before the Boston Herald beats them to it or the Church has the
opportunity to bury it into obscurity.
****SPOILER ALERT****
Keaton is a more interesting character
in that he is a life-long Bostonian with no desire to hurt his family and
friends by exposing the ugly underbelly of the Church; he understands the
importance of Catholicism and how integral it is to the fabric of the
community. As it turns out, he had received evidence of these improprieties years
ago but had buried the story out of fear. But now, his conscience will not let
him look the other way. The cold truth hits him that that he could have easily been
a victim had circumstances been different. Testimonies from close friends from
his school days confirm his decision that Spotlight must “pull out all the
stops” and expose these heinous crimes at all costs.
There is one last scene worth
mentioning. In a personal moment between Ruffalo and McAdams, they discuss
their perceptions on faith and how the Church’s criminal acts affect their views
on God. Because I am a Protestant, it is difficult for me to understand the
pain that this situation causes Catholics. To me, these acts are the work of
evil men who should know better, but to Ruffalo and McAdams (from a Catholic
upbringing), they are an outright betrayal by the Lord. My hope and prayer is
that all practicing Catholics come to understand that the loving heavenly
Father of the New Covenant does not hurt His children.
Spotlight is a great
film that is worthy of its Oscar award. It is sure to stir up a lot of healthy
discussion on the depravity of man versus the goodness of a loving God. The
final moment is extremely moving: the morning the story hits the press, the
normally quiet Spotlight office becomes inundated with victims’ calls, proving that
the power of the pen wields mighty in the battle against evil! Let that be an
encouragement to all of us writers who seek to reveal Truth!
