Spotlight review: One of the best films you will watch this year
Movie Details :
- CAST: Mark Ruffalo, Michael Keaton, Rachel McAdams, Live Schrieber, John Slattery, Brian d’Arcy James, Stanley Tucci
- DIRECTION: Tom McCarthy
- GENRE: Biography
- DURATION: 2 hours 8 minutes
Story :
A group of investigative journalists working at the Boston Globe in its Spotlight team uncover a massive scandal involving the Roman Catholic Church and some of its priests who sexually molested children. The journalists have got the scent of blood and are eager to bring the story to public knowledge. However, uncovering such a controversial story does have its consequences.
Review:
Walter Robinson (Keaton), Sarah Pfeiffer (McAdams), Mike Rezendes (Ruffalo) and Matt Carroll (D’Arcy) together conduct their journalistic work in complete secrecy, owing to the kind of stories they work on. And given the span of research involved, they can take months on a case.
The Globe receives a new editor Marty Baron (Schrieber), who reminds Spotlight editor Robinson about a case where in the early 70s, a priest named John Geoghan sexually molested children. And Cardinal Bernard Law (the Archbishop emeritus of Boston) turned a blind eye towards it at that time. Could Robinson and team get on the case and uncover the larger scandal? As no doubt, Geoghan is just the tip of the iceberg.
The Spotlight team speaks to victims, lawyers from both sides and priests. In time, the legwork pays off. Ruffalo is terrific as the dedicated reporter. Pfeiffer is the empathetic one while Robinson and Slattery bring a certain gravitas to the film. Stanley Tucci’s lawyer character is also noteworthy.
Spotlight is pretty heavy on dialogue, completely essential though, as the movie is a no-nonsense retelling of a very serious subject and painstaking effort has gone into getting the details right. But to McCarthy’s credit, never does he steer his principal cast into soppy, heroic or self-righteous territory. It’s as matter-of-fact as it comes. The investigation is meticulously deconstructed with not a wasted second. Kudos to Josh Singer and McCarthy, who also co-scripted the film.
The real life investigation conducted by the team of Spotlight journalists won them a Pulitzer Prize. In case you do watch this movie – and it is highly recommended that you do – it’ll be easy to see why they won that honour. Bold, audacious and shocking, a consummate piece of work.
Rating : 4/5
Spotlight (2016) Hollywood Movie Review
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