Worth Its Best Picture Win; The Schindler's List (1993) of Today

Rating: 9/10 (8 March 2016)

Spotlight is directed by Tom McCarthy and is the true story of the Boston Globe news reporters that uncovered the scandal of Catholic priests molesting children throughout Boston, and the entire world even. If I had to label this film a genre, I would most likely call it a psychological thriller. I would name it this because of the major character arcs that take place with each and every one of the characters. All of the characters slowly become obsessed with the story, and struggle with maintaining their personal life, due to their entire lives being wrapped up with the case. This element is what makes Spotlight so great.
The second best thing about Spotlight has to be the acting, starting with Mark Ruffalo. Ruffalo easily gives his best performance to date, portraying and average guy that learns about these horrible things. He doesn't take the news like a movie character, however. He accepts the story just how a normal person would, by just being down about it. He doesn't flip out and start punching people, he just reacts in such a way that gives the film such a realism factor, that the viewer feels like they're watching a documentary, rather that a feature length film.
Michael Keaton also gives one of the best performances of his career. It's so nice to see him in another good role, showing that Birdman (2014) wasn't just a one time fluke. Keaton plays a higher up official in the Boston Globe, and seems to be stalling on when the story should be released, and butts heads with Ruffalo's character due to their disagreement on this subject. Rachel McAdams also does great, especially in scenes in which she is interviewing specific victims of the priest molestation. She almost seems like a nurse or a mother figure, letting these people know that it's okay that this happened, and that they aren't responsible.
Tom McCarthy also does a great job behind that camera. I believe it's safe to say that this film is near perfectly directed, say for a few wide shots of characters running through the streets of Boston; these can look a bit sketchy at times. However, all other directing looks amazing, and very clean. There's a particular shot in the movie that is of a character walking through a neighborhood, looking for a certain house. One on going shot lasts about 30 seconds, and captures the entire walk he goes for, and this is just one example.
The last great thing I'll mention is the message this film puts across: this can't happen again. Much like a little 1993 film called Schindler's List, the entire theme of this film is the prevention of the circumstances shown throughout the movie. We simply can't allow these events to ever take place again, whether you be talking about the molestation, or the cover up of it.
The only problem I had with the film was a very small, nitpicky issue. The sour length of the second act. As the first act leads into the second, it does so smoothly, and feels like a clean transition. However, towards the end of the second act, the film begins to go a bit slower, and feels overlong. Once the third act kicks into play, this factor completely disappears, but was still present during the second act, making the film feel a bit longer than it is.
Overall, Spotlight is an amazing film, worthy of it's best picture win, thanks to it's great directs, hard-hitting theme, and the absolutely terrific acing. I'm going to give Spotlight an A, or a 9 out of 10.