UNITED STATES
Santa Monica EdHat
By Rosie Sullivan
Directed by Tom McCarthy
Starring Mark Ruffalo, Michael Keaton, Rachel McAdams, Liev Schreiber
4.5/5 EdHats
With Oscar nominations announced on Thursday morning, it seemed apropos to share my take on one film that is up for numerous awards (including Best Picture).
If you see one film from 2015 (besides Star Wars: A Force Awakens) it should be Spotlight. With the tagline “the true story behind the scandal that shook the world” this film delivers a riveting whistle-blower tale of The Boston Globe versus the Catholic church.
Spotlight depicts the story of how the Pulitzer Prize-winning Boston Globe uncovered the massive scandal of child molestation, sexual abuse, and ultimate cover-up within the Boston archdioces. In 2002, after eight months of research, The Boston Globe published almost 600 articles on child sex-abuse allegations against Catholic priests and the cover ups by the church which followed. The expose shook the entire Catholic Church to its core.
In other, less-adept, hands, this tale could have fallen flat. Director Tom McCarthy (of The Visitor, Meet the Parents, and Up fame) took what could have been simply people talking in a room and turned it into a captivating lively story. Spotlight comments not only on the disappearance of hard-hitting investigative journalism but also on the rampant sexual abuse of children within the Catholic Church which was long-ignored by the church itself and by society.
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