Spotlight on the Church

Rating: 8/10 (9 February 2017)

I just watched this movie for the first time concerning a massive cover-up of pedophile priests by the Catholic Church in Boston. I liked the investigative team that went after the story, actors Mark Ruffalo, Michael Keaton and Rachel McAdams. Ruffalo and McAdams showed the instincts and spunk of true reporters. Once they smelled a rat, they pursued the story relentlessly getting the facts needed to make public aware of the cover-up that kept pedophiles from answering for their crimes. Keaton was the boss who had to ensure the hard evidence was secured to give credibility to the story. Michael Keaton is compelling as the guy who grew up in Boston, attended Boston College and became one of the boys on the golf course hobnobbing with lawyers and journalists. But he knew things were not right in the way his hometown and its dominant religious body was dealing with a grave injustice that was wrecking the lives of many young people. We get the sense of life in Boston with its love of sports and homespun camaraderie, something of a foil to deflect crimes lurking on its own dark side. The new kid on the block, Liev Screiber, is the one who unleashes the hounds as he tries to break through the easygoing veneer of official Boston, particularly its clergy and its lawyers. He shows the uneasiness of a man who doesn't quite fit in but gives his team the support they need to get the story out. A fine movie with great acting from the above as well as Stanley Tucci, John Slattery and Jamie Sheridan. This is a movie that reminds people that institutions have to account for injustice and cover-ups aimed at protecting their sacred turf.