UNITED STATES
Above the Law
By JILL SWITZER
The ratings were down for this year’s Oscar show, no surprise given the controversy about the lack of nominee diversity. It may well be that people without any connection to the movie industry or who don’t feast on tabloid Hollywood gossip could care less about the Oscars, that La-La land is exactly that. As host, Chris Rock was his usual take no prisoners self, but he did goof when he interviewed moviegoers in a town he called “Compton.” There aren’t any movie theaters in Compton, but “Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza” doesn’t have the same ring, and it may have been an indirect slap at the failure to include the movie “Straight Out Of Compton” in the best picture nominee category.
I watched the show for only one reason. I wanted the movie Spotlight to win best picture, and it did. Why? For several reasons: one, because the movie was beautifully written and acted, two, it told a story that some people still have trouble accepting to this day, and three, it shows the power of print journalism when it’s allowed to do (e.g. given the resources) to do what it does best, which is to tell the stories that need to be told, that can’t be told in two minute sound bites or by people ranting/interrupting each other while trying to get words in edgewise. Spotlight is the story of the Boston Globe’s investigative team, called Spotlight that in 2002 uncovered the pedophilia priest cover-up in the Boston archdiocese.
Aside from the usual “scumbag,” “how can you defend these people,” “a shill for the church,” comments by various reporters and editors, I thought that the movie spotlighted (pun intended) some ethical issues that lawyers face. A shout out to one of the reporters who, during a pre-publication discussion about the story, defended various lawyers, saying that they were only doing their jobs. Thank you.
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