An Important Film

Rating: 8/10 (25 January 2016)

The true story of how the Boston Globe uncovered the massive scandal of child molestation and cover-up within the local Catholic Archdiocese, shaking the entire Catholic Church to its core.
Going into awards season, "Spotlight" was the early front-runner. And after the nominees were announced, it has remained a favorite. More than a handful of award nominations surround it, and we should expect it will get at least one, if not a few.
Will it get an award for best screenplay? Certainly it has the chops to do so, as it has made journalism interesting again, the first film to do since since "All the President's Men". And it addresses the Boston clergy scandal in a fair way. This is not a smear campaign, but an honest look. Even the Church itself has accepted and praised the film. Vatican Radio, official radio service of the Holy See, called it "honest" and "compelling" and said it helped the Catholic Church "to accept fully the sin, to admit it publicly, and to pay all the consequences." Luca Pellegrini on the Vatican Radio website wrote that the Globe reporters "made themselves examples of their most pure vocation, that of finding the facts, verifying sources, and making themselves—for the good of the community and of a city—paladins of the need for justice."
There are two acting awards to look at. Michael Keaton was projected to be nominated, but was not. In his place, we have two supporting actors: mark Ruffalo and Rachel McAdams. For whatever reason, the actress roles year after year are generally not very strong, and this may allow McAdams to sneak by. She is not outstanding by any means, but better than her usual self. But Jennifer Jason Leigh seems to be the front-runner, and Rooney Mara is also someone to watch. This is not your year, Rachel.
Mark Ruffalo has a better shot. He has gone all out, and this may be his finest performance yet. For a guy who appeared in such films as "13 Going on 30", he has really distinguished himself. The intensity here. There is one clear "Oscar scene" where Ruffalo stands up to Keaton's character. His biggest hurtle, though, will probably be Mark Rylance ("Bridge of Spies"). They are two very different performances, but the Academy's tendency to give out "lifetime achievement awards" makes me suspect it will tip in Rylance's favor.
Tom McCarthy as best director? Clearly if a film can be best picture the director deserves a chance to be best director. The two are almost always linked. But McCarthy has a strike against him: the Adam Sandler film "The Cobbler". Are people ready to forget about that? Probably. But yet, it seems like Inarritu ("The Revenant") may be taking this one... for the second year in a row, if memory serves me.
Now, of course, that leaves best picture. As noted, the hype is there, the push is there, if you were involved in an Oscar pool this would be the wise bet. For me, it is a fight between "Spotlight" and "The Martian". But I probably stands alone on that, and the reason is because "Spotlight" is the more important film.
"The Martian" is a hopeful story, but "Spotlight" focuses on the importance of journalism and standing up for what is right. The film is even more important today than when the scandal happened because of the Internet. And they hint at that in one scene where a priest tells his congregation that the Internet cannot make faith obsolete. The real message is that the Internet cannot make good journalism obsolete. Papers may be shutting down or merging, but good reporting will always have its place... and thank goodness we have the folks at Spotlight to do that sort of work for us.