Review of Spotlight (2015) by Tr J — 28 Mar 2016

I appreciate very much the way this film portrayed the working journalists and their dogged pursuit of the truth in a story that is so important. The film is not exciting visually or in its scripting, and I think this could have been improved somewhat without jeopardizing the great dedication to showing investigative journalism at its best.

But overall it's to the film's credit that all involved present a compelling and occasionally tense situation that uncovered the horrific crimes of abuse that pervaded the Catholic Church, and which the church tried hard to cover up for decades, to their unending shame.

In many ways, that criminal and immoral pattern remains a problem and has not been addressed in any substantial way by the church, even with the more admirable Francis now in charge. As for the movie itself, we must applaud the filmmakers for their dedication to both telling this story and highlighting the heroic efforts of these journalists.

The need for such journalists is even greater today, and with the financial struggle of large newspapers the ability to investigate stories over months is increasingly at risk.