Review of Spotlight (2015) by Montique D — 27 Mar 2016

"If it takes a village to raise a child, it takes a village to abuse one." "We're going after the system." Spotlight offers a riveting, multilayered account of a whole community's complicity in the sexual abuse of children by priests.

The film features a constellation of acting talent in ensemble format, no divas, everyone pulling terrific weight as hardworking investigative reporters, lawyers who broke the priest abuse story in Boston, as well as tragic turns by victims who spoke out.

My former classmate Liev Schrieber plays a new editor who gives the investigation the necessary push, the normally unflappable John Slattery is overworked and gobsmacked, Michael Keaton provides the conflicted center of the team, Mark Ruffalo channels all our outage as the unraveling corruption, and Rachel McAdams' clear-eyed interviewer elicits disarming honesty from victims and perpetrators alike.

The truth about buried crimes shatters illusions, opens torrents of hidden grief, and exposes powerful men hidden behind sanctimony, church wealth, and lawyers. Stanley Tucci gives us a terrifically prickly performance as the victims' indefatigable lawyer.