A lot of people have recommended Spotlight. So of course, my expectations were starting to be extremely high, I mean how good can this movie actually be? Usually, when I’m really excited about something, I’m disappointed. Yet, if you read my Best Movies of 2015 post, you saw that I was anything but disappointed in Best Movies of 2015 post, you saw that I was anything but disappointed in Spotlight.
I haven’t been this captivated by a movie in a long long time. The first 45 minutes felt like 5. There’s no need for added action to keep an audience going, a well-written script and a phenomenal cast did the trick just fine.
The Spotlight Team of the Boston Globes is trying to uncover a sordid affair of child abuse amongst Roman Catholic priests in 2001. Spotlight is revisiting the classics of movie journalism, with an added thriller flavor. It’s old school, follows a lot of rules, but is always just and sincere. In other words, it’s professional.
I feel like a lot of movies today aren’t professional. Every year there’s a hundred movies coming out, which all look the same, are poorly written, and just aren’t professional. They’re created only for an entertainment purpose. Spotlight could have been one of these movies, but rise above the rest.
I don’t know how, but in the back of my mind, I’ve always found priests weird. I think it’s because I’m not a religious person and I’ve seen and read so many movies and books dealing with child abuse in the church. Even recently, I picked up a random book called The Field, also dealing with this subject. It’s gut wrenching to see that an institution can let its members abuse faithful people without consequences.
The Spotlight team most likely weren’t the first ones to expose the wrongdoings of the church. But they did unravel a sea of confessions and testimonies coming from everywhere in the US. It was the first time a story like this one gained national and international coverage.
What’s truly frightening is the treatment of the church towards those priests. They were considered sick, and most likely transferred elsewhere, working with other children. The confession of the man Rachel McAdams’s character goes to meet reflects that. Yes, he did it, and nothing happened to him. He doesn’t think that it’s bad since he was never told so by the church.
Beyond that, there’s the length they go through to bury those sickening stories. Public legal documents are suddenly confidential or disappear. They completely abuse of their power, control the government like they want, and leave thousands of children to suffer from trauma for the rest of their lives.
Spotlight sticks to the cold and hard facts, without putting a gloss over it, or a modern world view. Even the A-list cast doesn’t interfere with the story, it always stays just. It’s astonishing how there isn’t a central character. You follow them all one by one in their investigations, without losing interest or where the intrigue is going.
Mark Ruffalo, Micheal Keaton, Rachel McAdams, Brian d’Arcy James, Liev Schreiber, John Slattery, Stanley Tucci… All their performances are standouts. They work so well as a team!
Spotlight is a complete masterpiece, and a little love letter to paper journalism, it’s created like a really well crafted and insightful article that makes you go “Damn!” by the end. I really hope it’s going to do well at the Oscars, they truly deserve all the awards!
Rating: 5/5
WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT SPOTLIGHT?
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