A journalistic procedural as good as All the President's Men

Rating: 10/10 (21 January 2016)

At one point in my life I was seriously considering becoming a journalist, hoping to write hard-hitting stories that would break down walls and change lives. There is something so captivating and singular about the job - sniffing out good news and not letting it go until it becomes public information. That love for the printed page remains strong with me through the years. Coincidentally, I am teaching journalism in a school now and I am loving it. Teaching it and watching this latest journalistic procedural are the closest I will ever get to it.
The spotlight is on Spotlight, the oldest continuously operating newspaper investigative unit in the United States and its investigation into the widespread child sex abuse cases in the Boston area. It is based on a series of stories by the real Spotlight Team that earned The Boston Globe the 2003 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service. The investigative unit uncovered the massive scandal of child molestation and cover-up within the local Catholic Archdiocese, shaking the entire Catholic Church to its core.
There is a moment when John Slattery exclaimed "90 fcuking priests!" I suspect the f-word is used in equal weightage as a verb, an adjective and as a spontaneous intensifier of shock, horror, or anger. This is a story that is so insanely criminal that it has to be told but how it is told is the bright spot.
The ensemble acting is pitch-perfect. The talent on hand is amazing. No one one-ups another in any scene and I didn't get the feeling these are accomplished actors doing a job. They look and feel like real journalists. Armed with a keen and focused mind, a trusty pen and a notepad, the close-knit group of four reporters "gegenpress" all the way to the ugly truth. For slightly more than two solid hours we are treated to a showcase of some incredible work ethics - setting aside every stick of hay in the stack till they get to the needle. There isn't a need to preach about the sacrifices they have made but we know it intrinsically when we see Mark Ruffalo boiling two sausages for dinner or Liev Schreiber leaving the office when the sky is pitch black. There is something so intoxicating about watching professionals born on earth to do one job and to do it exceptionally well. I was riveted. The acting is nuanced and restrained with no fanfare and a jolly pat on the back for a job well done. What a breath of fresh air.
Going after a systemic expose of the Catholic Archdiocese, director Tom McCarthy never paints the priests as villains the size of mountains. But there wasn't any doubt in my mind they are monsters, spiritually lost monsters. There was never any need to preach a 3-point sermon but yet the message hits my raw nerve. This is extremely assured filmmaking which gives us the respect we crave for and seldom see in movies.
The film may be a talkie but it has the rhythm and pacing of an intelligent thriller. The dialogue cuts right down to the bone and I am surprised there is no fluff and zero fats lined the bone. Every scene serves an important purpose and if you take anyone of them out I have a feeling the movie will lose its momentum.
Spotlight is a tour de force and deserves to be mentioned in the same breath as Alan J. Pakula's All the President's Men (1996) as one of the best journalistic procedurals ever. Every element of the film is flawless and the sum of all its parts gave me a tingling feeling underneath my skin. Surely this has Best Picture written all over it (I have yet to see The Revenant and Brooklyn though).
PS - I had a hoot seeing Liev Schreiber here and can't help feeling this movie works like a sorta revenge sequel in an alternate universe to Ray Donovan in which his character was abused by a priest.