Takes no prisoners

Rating: 9/10 (22 April 2020)

Had I researched "Spotlight" in advance, it would have been the last thing I would have wanted to watch. Browsing through the range on offer on Netflix, I had recently watched two quite lengthy series, one a documentary about an attempt to cover up sexual abuse by a priest, the other a fictional murder investigation. "Spotlight" should have seemed like deja vu, but the absolute excellence of this production soon captured me. There are plenty of interesting characters depicted by some really excellent actors, but nothing at all distracts from the progress of the investigation. I can't say how much I admire the avoidance of subplots, and fact that no character is allowed to command attention more than briefly. The story is the thing, and it grows and grows in dimension as the unbelievable scale of the criminal activity and related coverups by church authorities is revealed, not letting up until the last minutes of the movie. I found the way church sympathisers were shown trying to silence the investigators, very convincing. The seekers after truth are not self-righteous do-gooders, they are ordinary people who are horrified and appalled by what they discover. The whole thing has the ring of truth, and I'm glad I watched it. I am deducting a point to rate it 9/10 because I found the action and dialogue at the start a bit messy and all over the place, til it gets really going. Some of the dialogue is hard to catch as it is slurred with words half swallowed. But this is a fleabite in an otherwise admirable production. Highly recommended.