speak up for the truth

Rating: 10/10 (1 June 2016)

Tom McCarthy's look at the Boston Globe investigation that exposed sexual abuse committed by priests hits all the right notes. As with "All the President's Men", even though we know the outcome it's still a riveting story. Part of the point that "Spotlight" makes is that the widespread cover-up of pedophilia in the Catholic Church required the complicity of all parties (you may have heard that evil succeeds when good people do nothing). The reporters who started looking into the story had no idea just how big it was going to be.
The movie's Best Picture win was well deserved. Not only does it look at this specific story, but it reminds the audience of the importance of investigative journalism. Investigative journalism is one of the main tools of holding the powerful accountable. The people at the Boston Globe knew that it was a risk to take on one of the world's largest and most powerful entities, but also knew that it was the right thing to do.
Michael Keaton, Mark Ruffalo, Rachel McAdams, Liev Schreiber, John Slattery, Brian d'Arcy James, and the rest of the cast put in fine performances. The characters refuse to waver in their determination to expose the truth. The fact that, following the publication, so many more people came forth and talked about having gotten molested shows how much power the church had over people (especially since the pedophile priests simply got moved to other parishes and did the same thing all over again).
Another movie focusing on pedophilia in the church is John Patrick Shanley's "Doubt" starring Meryl Streep, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Amy Adams.