Spotlight

Rating: 9/10 (7 February 2016)

I saw the trailer for this film at least five times in the cinema, I was impressed firstly by the impressive cast, then of course awards season came along and this was getting attention, so I was definitely going to see it, from Oscar and Golden Globe nominated director Tom McCarthy (The Station Agent). Based on the true story, Spotlight is a small group of journalists writing investigative articles, for The Boston Globe, that take months to research and publish, in existence since the 1970s, and they have a rule, they are not to discuss their work with anyone else - family, friends or other staff at the newspaper. In 2001, The Boston Globe has hired new editor Marty Baron (Scream's Liev Schreiber), he meets with Spotlight editor Walter "Robby" Robinson (Michael Keaton), Baron has read an article about lawyer Mitchell Garabedian (Stanley Tucci) who says that Cardinal Law (Len Cariou) (the Archbishop of Boston) knew that priest John Geoghan was sexually abusing children but did nothing to stop it. Baron urges the Spotlight team to investigate, Garabedian initially declines an interview after being contacted by journalist Michael "Mike" Rezendes (Oscar BAFTA nominated Mark Ruffalo), but Garabedian is persuaded to talk when Rezendes reveals he is on the Spotlight team, despite being told not to. The Spotlight journalists, including Sacha Pfeiffer (Oscar nominated Rachel McAdams), interview victims who bravely come forward, the team initially believe they have been following the molestation crimes of one priest who has been moved around several times, but the team slowly uncover a pattern of sexual abuse of children by Roman Catholic priests in Massachusetts, and an ongoing cover-up by the Boston Archdiocese. A man who heads a victim's rights organisation comes forward claiming to know thirteen priests have committed abuse crimes, the search is widened, they also look through annual directories showing all priests in Boston, the recordings show many names as leaving on "sick leave" and "emergency response", it is an official designation by the church when someone is moved after being caught molesting children. An ex-priest, who worked trying to rehabilitate paedophile priests, also gives them information that reveals that there should be approximately ninety abusive priests in Boston alone, through the research they have uncovered of priests leaving parishes for specific reasons they develop a list of eighty-seven names, and they find their victims to back up their suspicions. The September 11 attacks force the team to deprioritise the story, but weeks later they regain momentum when Garabedian reveals to Rezendes that documents, confirming Cardinal Law was aware of the priest child abuse problem and ignored it, are available to the public, he is eventually able to access them. The Boston Globe wins a legal case to have even more legal documents unsealed, and the Spotlight team finally start writing the story that will expose this massive conspiracy, publication is planned for early 2002. Robby confesses to the team, as they are about to go to print, that he was sent a list of twenty paedophile priests in 1993 in a story he never followed up on, Baron nevertheless tells him and the rest of Spotlight that they are doing important work. The story goes to print in The Boston Globe, with a link leading to the documents that expose Cardinal Law and a phone number requesting victims of paedophile priests to come forward, the following day the Spotlight team is flooded with phone calls from victims wanting to tell their stories, of course this conspiracy has also been exposed in other parts of the world. Also starring The Adjustment Bureau's John Slattery as Ben Bradlee Jr., Brian d'Arcy James as Matt Carroll, Big Fish's Billy Crudup as Eric Macleish, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation's Paul Guilfoyle as Pete Conley, Law & Order: Criminal Intent's Jamey Sheridan as Jim Sullivan and The Cabin in the Woods' Richard Jenkins as Richard Sipe. The performances of Keaton, Ruffalo (who deserved his nominations), McAdams, Shreiber and Tucci are all fantastic, in Britain we were rocked by the paedophile revelations of sexual offenders and "predators" like Lost Prophets singer Ian Wakins, TV presenter Rolf Harris and especially the monster that is TV presenter, DJ and charity worker Jimmy Savile, so a film like this was always going to come around. This film is directed and written brilliantly, it works well to show us the power of modern journalism and investigation, it is shocking of how a story of one offending priest turned into dozens and the seriousness of hiding these facts from the public, it is utterly engrossing from start to finish, a must see biographical drama. It won the Oscars for Best Motion Picture of the Year and Best Writing, Original Screenplay, and it was nominated for Best Film Editing, it won the BAFTA for Best Original Screenplay, and it was nominated for Best Film, and it was nominated the Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture - Drama and Best Screenplay. Very good!