2015 | Dir. Tom McCarthy | 129 Minutes
"If it takes a village to raise a child, it takes a village to abuse one."
In 2001, under the direction of new editor Marty Baron, the Boston Globe's Spotlight investigative reporting team follows up on a child abuse case involving local clergy. The investigation quickly unravels well-organized and far-reaching workings perpetrated by leadership within the Catholic Church to allow, and subsequently cover up, thousands upon thousands of child sex abuse crimes committed by priests primarily targeting children from underprivileged neighborhoods and broken homes.
Spotlight is a sobering dramatization of the real life heroic investigative journalism by Boston Globe reporters that blew the lid off of one of the most shameful global conspiracies hidden in plain sight. Between the church's refusal to cooperate, the reluctant testimony of damaged abuse survivors, and a considerable amount of legal red tape, the Spotlight Team goes to great lengths to uncover the truth behind the labyrinthine scandal. While the reporters are first and foremost presented as courageous heroes, the film doesn't shy away from displaying their fallibility, placing a fair amount of emphasis on the consequences of prolonged inaction, revealing late in the picture that the Boston Globe had received reports of sexual abuse incidents for years but had done nothing about it. The film also calls into question the strategic timing of how and when the press releases information.
Michael Keaton plays Walter Robinson, the leader of the Spotlight Team, bringing a fair amount of humor and dignity to the role. Mark Ruffalo does what he does best as mild-mannered writer Michael Rezendes, a dedicated worker becoming gradually more enraged as the team delves deeper into the investigation. Rounding out the Spotlight Team are Rachel McAdams as Sacha Pfeiffer, a Midwestern transplant with a churchgoing Bostonian grandmother, and Brian d'Arcy James as Matt Carroll, who turns out to live literally down the street from a group of alleged child-abusing clergymen. In minor but notable roles are Liev Schreiber as Marty Baron, and John Slattery as Editor Ben Bradlee Jr., with Billy Crudup turning up the smarm as smug attorney Eric MacLeish, and Stanley Tucci nearly stealing the film outspoken lawyer Mitchell Garabedian. In an uncredited performance, character actor Richard Jenkins lends his voice as Richard Sipe, a sociologist and former priest who wrote about sexual abuse within the Catholic Church, a valuable resource for the Spotlight Team.
Spotlight is an exemplary film, honest in its portrayal of a deeply troubling issue, and compelling in nearly every minute of its running time. With a fantastic ensemble cast working with a rock solid screenplay that was once on the 2013 Blacklist*, it is one of the best pictures of 2015.
*The Black List is an annual survey of the most-liked Hollywood movie scripts not yet produced.
FRAGMENTS
- The credits and title cards throughout the film are in Miller typeface, the same typeface used by the Boston Globe for headlines and copy
MCU CONNECTIONS
- John Slattery (Howard Stark in Iron Man 2, Ant-Man, Captain America: Civil War, and Avengers: Endgame)
- Stanley Tucci (Abraham Erskine in Captain America: The First Avenger)
- Mark Ruffalo (Bruce Banner in The Avengers, Iron Man 3, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Thor: Ragnarok, Avengers: Infinity War, Captain Marvel, Avengers: Endgame, and Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings)
- Rachel McAdams (Christine Palmer in Doctor Strange and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness)
- Michael Keaton (Adrian Toomes in Spider-Man: Homecoming)
