Everyone is Human

Rating: 8/10 (8 February 2016)

There are spoilers herein, but anyone who followed this story in the news knows the outcome.
"Spotlight," about the Boston Globe's Spotlight division investigating the sexual abuse within the Catholic church, is worth seeing for many reasons. It's well made and well acted, but it's primarily a story that needs to get out there in as big a way as possible. A newspaper can break major stories, but a movie is for the masses and the masses would do well to get a 2 hour life lesson about the backside of spirituality and the power of the church.
That lesson is really about a basic misunderstanding the Catholic church had, and maybe still has, about humanity. Yes, the church can demand that their priests take an oath of celibacy, but that very oath is what created this international systemic horror of child abuse that ruined so many lives. Priests are not saints or gods, they are human beings. Whether they are bartenders or clergy, people are in that regard, the same. Sexuality is a strong force, and when members of the church break a sacred oath, the strict discipline of the church naturally forces them to keep secrets. Hence the problem becomes systemic, as the film so perfectly shows.
Spirituality, combined with innocence, make young believers easy prey. This is the nature of the power of religion and belief. Once a person puts their God above all else, laws don't necessarily get in their way. After all, God's law is the supreme law, and this film shows how a priest might justify his own actions of sexual abuse by using a misguided interpretation of God's law to keep his transgressions a secret.
This movie shows how the simple lack of understanding of the nature of humanity can backfire within a strict religious discipline. The problem of child abuse within the Catholic church was not just a result of some bad apples, but became systemic because of a narrow world view. Mark Ruffalo, who gives the most emotionally charged performance, speaks for the humanity of the church when he says at one point that he gave up going to church, but always felt that one day he might want to go back. This systemic abuse in the church, and hidden by the church itself, made him rethink that intention, and sadly so.
The very understated score by Howard Shore, lead primary by piano, adds a sense of solemnity and weight that gives the film a strong conscience. Ruffalo is quickly becoming one of my favorite actors, but the rest of the cast as also effective, including Michael Keaton giving a powerfully restrained performance, with Rachel McAdams, Liv Schreiber and Stanley Tucci also standouts.
"Spotlight" is not a filmmaker's film like "The Revenant," and there's a lot of talk, but it does have some nice visuals, and the sense of time and place is simply, but effectively created. Director Tom McCarthy has the same sure hand first on display in 2003's "The Station Agent."
Highly recommended.