By Nick Boyd
“Spotlight” is a compelling movie that takes place in 2001 and covers The Boston Globe’s investigation into allegations of child sex abuse within the Catholic Church and how widespread the problem turned out to be.
The movie stars Michael Keaton as Walter Robinson, Rachel McAdams as Sacha Pfeiffer, Mark Ruffalo as Michael Rezendes, Liev Schreiber as Marty Baron, John Slattery as Ben Bradlee, Jr., Billy Crudup as Eric MacLeish, Stanley Tucci as Mitchell Garabedian, and Brian d’Arcy James as Matt Carroll. The film gives voice to the victims and what they suffered as a result of the abuse. It also shows all the hard work and obstacles faced by determined investigative journalists.
Watching “Spotlight,” one is reminded of the movie “Zodiac,” which also happened to star Mark Ruffalo, in which the reporters in each are consumed with doing whatever it takes to find justice and are relentless in their quest.
Keaton, McAdams, Ruffalo, and d’Arcy James make up the four-person ‘spotlight’ team, which investigates in-depth stories. They are a close group that is assigned a big story when the new editor of The Boston Globe, Marty Baron, asks them to look into pedophile priests in the Boston area.
We come to realize that the Catholic Church is quite protective of its priests and is willing to let them just move from congregation to congregation, even if it seems that they may have committed heinous acts. Baron finds this out first-hand when he pays a visit to Cardinal Law, the Archbishop of Boston, who apparently knew about abuse committed by the clergy, but did nothing to stop it. Before leaving, Law gives Baron a gift – it is a book called “The Catechism of the Catholic Church.” This “gift” clearly is meant to convey to Baron that he should reconsider his investigation.
Robinson and Pfeiffer meet with Eric MacLeish, the lawyer for the victims of molestation by another priest a decade earlier, but MacLeish is not willing to give out much information or be of much assistance. Ruffalo’s Rezendes, a very vocal and tenacious reporter, seeks out lawyer Mitchell Garabedian, who represents the current victims. While initially Garabedian is not much help, eventually the two become allies determined to take down the priests.
The acting throughout is strong, and it is the superb script that really stands out. It takes us backstage into the journalistic culture. The scenes with the survivors of the abuse are very emotional and powerful where they recount what took place.
Among the performances, I was especially impressed by Keaton and Ruffalo who displayed the most depth to their characters. A late revelation by Keaton’s character on a regret that he had was a powerful scene.
While “Spotlight” touches on a dark chapter in Boston’s history, it is an illuminating account that is worth experiencing as we see a David (The Boston Globe) versus Goliath (the Catholic Church) narrative play out.
