A person convicted of sexually abusing a
minor spends the rest of his or her life marked for the behavior to protect potential future victims. They show up
on public lists and searchable maps; they are legally required to away from children. But the Catholic
Church spent decades knowingly shuffling priests from one region to another
after victims of child molestation reported incidents, relying on the shame of
the children, the parents, and everyone involved to keep the issue concealed
from the press, the law, and future victims.
And in 2002, The Boston Globe uncovered the story that had
always been there.
Spotlight is a
fairly grounded retelling of the reporting that resulted in the Boston Globe’s coverage
of sexual abuse scandals propagated and hidden by the leadership of Boston’s Catholic
Church. For a movie with such a corrupt, flawed, and unlikely villain in the Church,
(battling a group of truth-seeking journalists, at that), Spotlight is a film fairly devoid of typical heroes or villains. There
are no menacing figures in trench coats whispering threats, throwing bricks
through windows, or following the journalists in the dark as they drive home
from work.
The real enemy of truth in Spotlight is a combination of shame and disbelief. And everyone
plays a part – no organization more so than the Church, but also from lawyers,
the legal system, and even the reporters themselves. There is no smoking gun that
made the scandal’s revelation possible. In fact, the whole thrust of the story
is set in motion only when the paper’s new editor asks why the reporters
never followed up on a columnist’s coverage of a sexual predator priest. The
journalists run through the typical feelings of skepticism that kept the story
protected for so long, contemplating every variation on the question: Is this
really worth looking into?
But ultimately, the team of four journalists and their
leader, encouraged by the paper’s editor, dismantle the scandal piece by piece,
spending months understanding the scope of the abuse, the Catholic Church’s
knowledge of it, and the psychology behind the behavior. The reporters
even speak to a priest who admits to abusing children because he had been
abused by a priest himself as a child, revealing the depth and cyclical nature
of the cover-up.
Almost anyone who was alive in 2002 will remember when this story
broke, which can make the notion of a film on the subject feel like an uphill
battle: the ending is a foregone conclusion. But fans of The Wire will be pleased to find writer and director Tom McCarthy at
the film’s helm (McCarthy actually plays the role of Scott Templeton, a
Baltimore journalist, on season 5 of The
Wire). McCarthy has learned from the masters, and follows The Wire’s gritty, fleshed
out approach to story-telling. And while McCarthy’s screenplay and vision for
the film as a director are the most essential elements for its success, Spotlight also owes a great debt to the understated and even performances of
its ensemble cast, including Michael Keaton, Rachel McAdams, Mark Ruffalo, Liev
Schrieber, and John Slattery.
It’s hard to find much at fault in Spotlight. After being spoiled by the visual flourishes becoming so
standard in film from master cinematographers like Hoyte van Hoytema and Roger
Deakins, it’s worth noting that Spotlight
isn’t a beautiful film. But given the film’s subject matter and narrative, it might
almost feel bizarre if it was. It’s just not that kind of movie.
Spotlight is
surely going to be a film that sticks around in a small way until Oscar season,
when it breaks big with audiences after a slew of nominations. Whether you wait
until then or pull the trigger now, this is one to add to your list.
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