A true story about the importance of free journalism

Rating: 8/10 (8 April 2016)

Spotlight is the true story about how the newspaper Boston Globe revealed child molestation within the Catholic Church and how they tried to cover it up. As a student of journalism, I find this film to be particularly interesting, especially the investigative journalism. I mentioned Spotlight in a post last summer and said that I thought it could be Oscar material. Spotlight did win two Oscars on this years show, best screenplay and best picture. Michael Keaton, Mark Ruffalo and Rachel McAdams does a fantastic job with great acting.
Spotlight never leaves anything for chance. It is a well played drama and as the journalists digs up new clues, the film itself always moves one step closer to the truth. Even if we already know how it will end and just how bad it actually was, I still get pulled into the excitement. Films like Spotlight has a dramaturgy with a constant forward motion and rewards for the audience in form of small clues we gradually figure out. These films seldom feel boring and the same goes for Spotlight.
The relatively unknown director Tom McCarthy has in Spotlight found a good balance between unwrapping the story with dialogue and by telling it in images. There's a lot of intense talkative conversations but they break away from them with longer montages of home visits and investigative journalism. Spotlight is definitely one of 2015's best films and a must see. I grade it a four.
David Lindahl - www.filmografen.se