https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zg5zSVxx9JM

4/5

The Boston Globe, a large newspaper in Boston, MA, reopened a “retired” case about the Catholic Church’s neglecting of priests abusing and molesting children and young adults. Continuing this piece, originally begun in the 1980s and again in the 1990s, was brought back into the light of day in 2001.

In an in-depth investigation the Globe’s investigative team, Spotlight, searches in every nook and cranny exposed the extensive detail of the Catholic Church’s corruption.

Revisiting the case to the new editor, Marty Baron (Liev Schreiber), who later assigns the story to Spotlight. Members of this team were Michael Rezendes (Mark Ruffalo), Sacha Pfeiffer (Rachel McAdams), Matt Carroll (Brian d’Arcy James) and leader and editor of Spotlight, Walter “Robby” Robinson (Michael Keaton).

This team was attempting to challenge the Church and legal system to provide their subscribers with the full story that would expose the horrendous deeds that dozens of priests had committed.

While the team conducted interviews with victims, priests, lawyers, statisticians and psychology experts, Spotlight discovered how little information they gathered in their previous pieces. Later, the team decided to use sensitive documents and materials that were accessible through public records in their local courthouse.

The movie highlighted many parts of the journalistic process that are normally overlooked. Such as constant meetings with editors, difficulty reaching and interviewing sources as well as the mental drain such a story can bring on a staff.

The main tone and attitude of the characters was very accurate. Coming from someone on a newspaper staff, there is a spectrum of attitude for each staff member: there are the very good days when everything is looking up and the story seems to be coming together, and then there are bad days when no one will cooperate or your source proves to be unreliable or you spill your coffee (or whatever drink it may be) all over your freshly written notes.

The one scene that was almost overkill, was when Rezendes visits a church during the Christmas Vigil. The choir kids that sang was not something I enjoyed. The movie was already covering rape and molestation, already a touchy subject, and bringing that scene of young kids singing with the priest at church was almost too much.

Spotlight, was not too long though. The movie was two hours and eight minutes long, which sounds lengthy, but the conflicts and plot of the story were developed and distracted from how long I was spending in the theatre.

This film, categorized as a Drama and Thriller by IMDB, does include dramatic sequences that built suspense and also allude to fearful and serious topics. This rated R feature showcases brilliant actors and actresses depicting an aggressive subject in a very appropriate way.