Review of Spotlight (2015) by Ethan P — 21 Aug 2016

Spotlight is unassuming, but brilliant. It isn't loud or dazzling or stylish. It is quiet, sharp, and stealthy. It follows a group of mellow reporters at the Boston Globe who dress in greys and whites and shuffle through stacks of reports in their small, bland office. The actors, who are very attractive and dynamic, are presented as average and offer understated, but still engaging performances. Michael Keaton and Leiv Schreiber are especially good, but there are no theatrical performances, visual majesty or dramatic soundtrack to give it heft. The depth of the film is grounded in the intrigue of its plot and the terror that comes from what they discover.

The appeal of Spotlight is the terrifyingly true story of sexual abuse in Boston's Catholic Church. At first, the team of journalists is searching for a new story to dive into and they find one. A priest is accused of sexual assault and as the reporters search deeper, the Globe braces themselves to take on the church, keeping their investigation confidential and cautious. Early on they are pressured to drop the case and struggle to find evidence, but as more comes to light, they discover the Church has buried it all. They dig further and find 10 more priests are involved, then 90, then even more. The most disturbing thing about the film is not how many priests they find to be sexually deviant, but how deep the journalists had to dig and how hard they had to fight to uncover the truth. The Church's power and deceit was unbelievable. The evidence was buried, the witnesses and lawyers were pressured not to speak, the reporters had to persuade judges to hear their case and grant them access. All the while, the Church, its attorneys and Boston's most influential pressure the Globe to drop it. To make it all more complicated, most of the reporters and witnesses are Catholic and are very hesitant to attack the Church they grew up in, especially on such a large scale.

More disturbing is the amount of people it affected and the lives lost because of the events. When the Globe finally prints the story, thousands call in to report how they were sexually assaulted. Throughout the film, witnesses share their troubling experiences and explain that many more victims committed suicide. The investigation leads to similar discoveries in cities all over the world. The extent of the terrible phenomenon is incredible and discouraging. There is a lot going on in Spotlight, a lot of secrets and motives and I think the creators presented wrapped all that intrigue and information into a very fair, digestible film. It definitely deserved best picture.