Review of Spotlight (2015) by Cigs J — 28 Oct 2016

A dramatisation of the true 2002 Boston Globe investigative team called spotlight uncovering of Catholic Priest child molestation on a systemic scale including decades of abuse going back to the 70s. It avoids the pitfall of righteous indignation and specific film heroes. It sticks to the facts and the actors dramatise it well. The sad thing, it is still going on - children are still coming forward with recent accusations of molestation. The Globe revealed the extent to which the Catholic hierarchy systematically covered up abuses by first just moving the priest to another area and getting the victims to accept small and secret compensations. They avoided any public records by calling it a 'private mediation' so lawyers were involved (taking a 30% cut of the typically $20k compensation) but not in a public court. Moreover the victims' families were encouraged to keep quiet about it and not even talk to their fellow parishioners. Even the boss of the Spotlight team admitted he had ignored a report of 20 abusive priest 20 years prior as he did not believe it.

The film ends with a list of other American cities that have uncovered a similar pattern of cover up (pages and pages) and then goes on to cities world-wide. It is world-wide scandal that the Catholic Church needs to resolve and bring those abusers to justice.

It is a worthy, sombre, serious drama that people should see.