Spotlight

Whether you're religious or not, the scandal that rocked the Catholic church (and still seems to from time to time) about child molestation was horrendous. 

To be honest, I'd never really thought about it deeply or attempted to grasp the gravity of the situation outside of the common knowledge that priests seemed to like to molest little boys within the church. I grew up Catholic, though I was never in attendance at a Catholic church with that type of setup (i.e. alter boys, very rigid structure, etc.). As I was young when all of this came about, it was yet another huge incident that I couldn't really understand. 

But because of Spotlight I really do grasp this insanely tragic situation now. It's hard to stomach really, because I felt so blind to it before, but knowing that there were victims out there that were introduced to sex because of these interactions with priests, victims who later turned to alcohol, drugs, or suicide to cope with the shame, and victims who lost their faith because of these incidents -- it's incredibly sad. Especially that last point. You don't have to be Catholic to recognize that someone's belief system being shattered by the selfish actions of an older man truly is a earth shattering event aimed at the core of what makes us human. Then you begin to realize, because of this story that the Boston Globe published, the scope and immensity of this and it becomes one of the single largest scandals in the last century. 

"So you're saying after Bridman,
I can't be in the Marvel Universe?"

The film Spotlight is an excellent portrayal of the team at the Boston Globe who spent countless, tireless hours discovering this issue and really deep diving the victims and the scope. The team's name is, as you may have guessed, the "Spotlight" group and they were a group of four investigative journalists who worked high profile, often confidential cases for the Globe. In the film, this team is made up of Michael Keaton, Rachel McAdams, Mark Ruffalo, and Brian d'Arcy James. I imagine this film will have several Best Supporting Actor/Actress nominations for it come award season as all do a stellar job. I'd say the two highlights for me were a subtle, but effective, Liev Schreiber as the new head of the Globe, and Mark Ruffalo. Ruffalo's character has some ticks, quirks, and an interesting accent/speech. Whether the real life Mike Rezendes does as well, I have no idea, but Ruffalo makes his character stand out and he often has some of the best scenes. 

As a whole, the film is a consistent progression of the events that took place at the Globe. There are no misplaced flashbacks or multi-segment timelines here. It picks a date and drives forward. For some, it may be too slow, particularly at the beginning. During a pivotal scene where the number of potential guilty priests jumps exponentially is where the film really begins to shine and become more riveting. It paces itself really well after that and the editing is spot on. It length (128 minutes) is perfect for the amount of content that needs to be fit in and it feels fairly brisk. There is an intensity to some scenes simply because of the acting and the script on hand. Unfortunately, the original score, while decent, is dreadfully repetitive. During quiet scenes, if it was playing, it was nearly identical to the "intense" original score musical measures being used. And that was the same as time lapse scenes. I won't go into my usual original score spiel here, but it's unfortunate because this great film could have become a classic one with a little more thought in this area. 

"Yeah but what if he really, really wants to be in the Marvel Universe?"

"So Marvel is a no-go.
Can we get Keaton into the DC Universe?"
"Um...."

Spotlight is one of those very basic films that focuses on its story, characters, and script over being shiny. It's refreshing to see and the film plays as if the audience would be in the room as this was all happening. The cinematography is basic, and often rather stationary and there is a lot of emphasis put on the conversations that characters have as opposed to actions they take (though there's no shortage of important actions either). Luckily, the script is fantastic and the delivery of it even better. Sentences or important statements that the audience needs to know/remember are well written and designed to have emphasis, but still be realistic in terms of the conversations that these characters are having. I like to refer to it as "Appropriate Dramatic Effect". Spotlight excels at that in spades. 

This is one of those films that earns its merits and deserves the praise it gets. Honestly, I'm not sure I'd ever watch it again, nor do I believe that it will end up on my Top 10 list. But I know it will on a lot of other critics and that's perfectly fine. It's a well organized film that does a really solid job at not taking any political sides and laying out the story of the Catholic Church scandal. And because it's so grounded in reality and stating the facts, much like the journalists it portrays, that final list might just drop your jaw. 

Sorry for the cliffhanger ending ;-)

 CONS:

• Slow start
• I'm not sure the very first scene was necessary
• Repetitive, underwhelming original score

PROS:

• Great performances from all. Ruffalo's unique character and Schreiber's toned down one were my highlights
• Awesome script that lays out the facts logically and truthfully
• The film excels at "Appropriate Dramatic Effect". It likes to remain very realistic and the final part of the film is all the more effective because of it
• Excellent pacing and editing
• Technically well made. Features some great shots of Boston
• Doesn't take a political stance, but rather presents the story as it happened. Immensely interesting from start to finish and it does a great job showing how much effort the Spotlight journalists put into making sure this story was accurate, credible, and complete

Rath's Review Score: 8.5/10