Review of Spotlight (2015)

Spotlight (2015) dir. Tom McCarthy, is a thriller/docudrama about the Spotlight Investagative Journalism Team for the Boston Globe, and their Pulitzer Prize winning report on the Catholic Church's methodical dealings and cover up of abuse within the Church by Priests. It stars Michael Keaton, Mark Ruffalo, Rachel McAdams, Brian D'arcy James, Stanley Tucci and Liev Schrieber. Spotlight was nominated for 6? academy awards, and won Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay.

Spotlight manages to perfectly capture the look and feel of Boston – You feel like this is a real place with real people who were affected by this. The simple style of the cinematography and the editing is what is needed in a film where the emphasis is on the story. This doesn't mean that the other elements have been neglected – but if they were done extravagantly, the rest of the film would be over the top, this film's success is down to it's almost minimalist style. The colour palette is very grey and neutral. This is symbolic of the fact that this is bleak movie. It also associates you with the gritty realism of Spotlight.

Spotlight won best original screenplay at the eighty eighth academy awards, and it easy to see why (though an argument could be made that since Spotlight is based on true events, then it is not truly original. However, the powerful nature of the script and the way the events unfold means that the simplistic nature of the film means the cinematography and editing works with the dramatic nature of the narrative.

Spotlight handles well the sensitive subject of child abuse within the catholic church, it is both harrowing and respectful. It also educates – despite the events of the film taking place in 2001/2, I had never heard of the scandal and the investigative report that uncovered it.

What is perhaps most distressing about this film is the ending. As the film fades to black, a list of places around the world where they uncovered similar cover-

ups to that in Boston. The list is three slides long. There is not enough time to read it all.

The frightening efficiency of the Church in this situation is unnerving. They would discover the priest, the Cardinal in whatever City in the place they were found, and they would then immediately be moved. As this was a time with limited technology, priests could be moved without being easily tracked. If someone filed a suit, which would be an adult, as children were generally kept quiet by their parents, if hey even told them. This settlement would be carried out by the Church's lawyers, and would usually not be taken to court. Garibedean, the lawyer, portrayed by Stanley Tucci, had a hold of damning documents, directly implicating Law in the mass cover up, including letters from a mother of one of the victims to the cardinal and the reply from him, showing his unwillingness to let this out.

This is why Spotlight is important. Because, despite the Spotlight teams work, this investigation and knowledge of it has faded. The events depicted in this film took place fifteen years ago – and most people I know had never heard of the investigation and the cover-up. After the events of this film, Cardinal Law was moved to the Vatican, where he still operates today.