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Spotlight (2015)



Spotlight (2015)




9/10



Starring
Mark Ruffalo
Michael Keaton
Rachel McAdams
Live Schreiber


Directed by Tom McCarthy


Spotlight is a captivating, thought-provoking, thrilling, and dramatic film based on the real-life investigation by the Boston Globe’s Spotlight team into the sexual abuse of children by Roman Catholic priests in the Boston area. The team not only exposed the priests but also the system that protected them from being convicted or even exposed for their crimes.

The Spotlight team’s work earned The Globe the 2003 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service. The standout figure behind this film is writer and director Tom McCarthy. Alongside Josh Singer (who co-wrote the movie), McCarthy captured the events so accurately that the only complaint about the film’s truthfulness came from someone whose role in the incident was negligible.

Spotlight won Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay at the 2016 Academy Awards, among 92 accolades it received in 2015. It was both a critical and commercial success.

Unlike Michael Keaton’s previous film, Birdman (2014), where he played Riggan Thomson and which won Best Picture in 2015, I feel Spotlight is far better.

Another standout aspect of this movie is the cast. The ensemble cast delivered breathtaking performances, ensuring that viewers feel the pain and gravity of the story, just as anyone reading about the molestation cases would.

The movie begins with the Boston Globe hiring a new editor, Marty Baron (Liev Schreiber). He instructs the Spotlight editor, Walter Robinson (Michael Keaton), to drop their current cases and focus on allegations against the Archbishop of Boston. Baron got the idea after reading a column in The Globe about a lawyer claiming the Cardinal knew about the sexual abuse committed by one of his priests.

The team takes on the task of uncovering the truth, and what they discover shakes them to their core. While investigating one priest, they find evidence suggesting that 87 priests in the Boston area may have sexually abused children under their care.

This discovery fuels their determination to dig deeper into the cover-up scandal, not just in Boston but worldwide. The priests, who are meant to teach children about faith, are instead destroying their lives.

During their investigation, the 9/11 attacks on the Twin Towers occur, nearly derailing their work. However, weeks later, they resume their efforts, gathering more evidence to expose the Catholic Church.

Spotlight is a classic and a movie well-deserving of its Best Picture win, I must warn you, if you are so religious, you may not find this movie appealing.

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