There's always that inspiring story which show the beautiful nature and strength of the human spirit and everyone wants to tell this story, everyone wants to talk about it, it's the one that gets the book deals, the movie deals, a TV series and yes, even a web series.
While there are true-to-life, based on actual inspiring events films that make headlines and receives the awards and recognitions, There are also also stories that are not being told, the ones that have everyone cringing and hiding in shame. The stories that are not a testament to the strength and courage of the human spirit but instead show its cruelty and corruption.
Such is the story of how, in 2001 a group investigative Journalists from the Boston Globe discovered a Church cover-up of child abuse by Catholic Priests. Told in an old-school investigative journalism process (interviews, phone calls, research) Spotlight doesn't have the traditional thrill of a typical procedural but the R-16 (yes, its R-16) content comes from the pearl-clutching, jaw dropping accounts of the victims and survivors of the abuse. There were no violent over-kills on screen but I kind of felt like I was watching something equally violent, even if it was all just dialogue.
It takes the new Editor-in-the-block of the Boston Globe, Marty Barton (Liev Schreiber) who is a Jew and hails from Florida, in other words an 'outsider' to stir the ingredients in the pot and push for the story, ironically, revealing that the paper itself turned a blind eye to the years-long abuse.
The Spotlight team, takes the reins and goes down the rabbit hole as they spend a whole year, investigating on the story, something that will change them forever. Micheal Keaton plays Walter "Robby" Robinson who leads the team, he grew up in Boston and has no idea that the investigation will take him right back to his school years. The passionate and hot-headed Mike Rezendes is played by Mark Ruffalo, he earned an Academy Nomination for Best Supporting Actor in this role, which I think he deserves. He was so different in this role, it wasn't Mark Ruffalo playing a character but a real journalist and reporter searching for the truth and sometimes getting his emotions involved.
Rachel Mc Adams is Sacha Pfeiffer who still goes to Mass every once in a while with her grandmother. Mc Adams, also received an Academy Award Nomination for Best Supporting Actress for this role. She has this one scene, where she's interviewing a priest who admits to abusing children, that is just a jaw dropper.
Stanley Tucci joins the cast as Mitchell Garabedian, a lawyer for a number of victims. It's always a pleasure watching him on screen.
The film has received many accolades, winning Best Original Screenplay and Best Picture at the recently concluded Academy Awards, just going to show that you don't need a big budget film that relies on Computer Generated Graphics, or elaborate sets and costumes to win Best Picture. It all comes down to a good story and how it resonates to its audience.
After the film's release, the Vatican Radio, the official radios service of the "Holy See" called the movie "honest" and "compelling" and said it helped the U.S. Catholic Church "to accept fully the sin, to admit it publicly, and to pay all the consequences."
During the acceptance speech of the cast and crew on their Oscar win, Micheal Sugar one of the Producers of the film called on to the Pope and the Vatican, saying:
"Protect the Children. Restore the Faith."
These six words along with the hope, that the film be seen as a universal movie that transcends religion and other institutions of power where abuse is happening, ultimately helps stop the fear of reporting these incidents as well as the corruption of hiding them.
I almost didn't get to see Spotlight in the cinema, given that it was also released in the same week as Box-Office giant 'Deadpool' and in a country that is largely Catholic, a movie like Spotlight will have a hard time staying in the cinemas. Good thing that it was given another run in the cinemas, after it won Best Picture at the Oscars. I made sure to see it and was pleased to see that there was a reasonable number of people in the audience and that they even gave a round of applause after the film. That really put a smile in my face.
8.5 out of 10, Spotlight is a gutsy movie, that should have been done a long time ago. It showcases what a good old investigative journalism can do, its power and significance. It's not about being against a specific religion, no, it bravely uncovers the truth, no matter how ugly and unpleasant it is.
I wrote in a separate post, how this movie hits home, because I was raised as a cradle-to-the grave Catholic. Actually, I am a practicing Catholic and even went to hear Mass the following day after seeing the movie. I think it's important to note that the movie is not against any religion but is just telling a story, yes the story is about the atrocities of a certain religion, my religion. It is one of those stories that doesn't make us good, that makes us sick to the stomach, but it's something that has to be told, for the sake of it's victims and survivors and to make sure that this does not happen again to anyone and that its perpetrators are no longer protected.
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