A good film about investigative journalism

Rating: 9/10 (26 January 2016)

I grew up fully aware of priests praying on children, which is probably why I've always seen priests as human beings not gods. They are men who are priests, like other men are writers, teachers, or scientists. But I was still dumbfounded by Spotlight. The scale of it might be small, if you take into account that Boston is just one city, but the size of what was going is impressive. So many people, boys and girls, our cousins, brothers, or aunts were molested as kids and paid off for their trouble. Left to live with a burden and a secret that could eat them alive. Like they've made a point of doing in the movie it's a systemic thing. They protect their own and actually have the guts to cover crimes if that keeps their image clean.
Six years ago, I met two priests who I knew full well were having sex - with adults obviously - and it didn't phase me one bit. I even kept their secrets, heck I'm still keeping their secret. So I'm asking myself if I'd be capable of keeping it secret if I knew of a priest or anyone molesting children? I'd like to think I would never but the truth is I don't know. I haven't been put in that situation. I'm talking about this because in the film they didn't vilify the people who knew but kept it a secret. It could have been easy to tear down those lawyers, cops, and parents who kept their mouth shut. Spotlight basically shows how the church and everyone involved let down, the victims and protecting, while not making an argument against religion. It's a movie about people and their actions, not an anti-religion piece.
Spotlight is a great example of what investigative journalism is. The story and the journalists' work is present in a clear and understandable way, it's a lot of information but nothing is dumb down. You're engaged in the investigation, in the work that goes into it, and on the effects it has on the characters. The performances are on point, as good as the script is, you easily believe the authenticity of each character. You see them as real people. A couple of performances stands out, mainly Mark Ruffalo's because his character has some great moments. He seems to be the most affected by their investigation, whereas the other characters look more impartial in contrast.
Like I've tweeted before, Spotlight is the best 2hours I've spent in a theater in the last 6months.
By @garcwrites