SPOTLIGHT - on Scandals and Journalism

Rating: 8/10 (21 February 2016)

"Sometimes its easy to forget that we spend most of our time stumbling around the dark. Suddenly a light gets turned on and there's a fair share of blame to go around." --
Screenwriters Josh Singer and Tom McCarthy have done some "very good reporting" of true incidents back in 2002 of what could be defined as - "widespread and systemic child sex abuse in the Boston area by numerous Roman Catholic priests" and its media-coverage by the oldest continuously operating newspaper investigative unit of the United States - The Boston Globe's SPOTLIGHT.
The biographical-drama lived by its tagline - "break the story, break the silence" – while it builds up "captivatingly" from banal looking journalistic lifestyle to focus the aftermath of a short- column story, leading to the events of factual-investigations over a period of a 2 years into several full-fledged news articles that subsequently ran about 600 follow-ups, publicly-accusing a quarter of a thousand priests and brothers for pedophilic activities against a thousand known survivors in Boston itself, thereafter leading to the public apology of the archdiocese and the resignation of its Bishop, leading to widespread appraisal of this work – including a Pulitzer Prize. However, the unfurling-tension of the truth and the shocking facts about the hush-hush negligence by law and the church especially, make a rueful impact and at the same time, are equally urging for the long-delayed justice's deliverance.
Not losing pace once, surprisingly, with bundles of information flowing around and distinctively develops around its characters, and from the journalistic POV; though, not boring for a second. Needless to say the direction, editing, casting are all done right and more than well, but what is outstanding is its score (Howard Shore, "The Lord of the Rings trilogy") - the theme of somber, careful unfolding to a widespread impact.
The film is "highly-recommended" for its simplest of depictions, defining why the press is called the "fourth pillar of democracy" and the very reason of its necessity in a modern day society and the citizens to not just think but to live responsibly as well.
Rating - 8/10; Verdict - Worthy of remembering, and its 6 Oscar nominations