By Hope Sandusky/ editor-in-chief
“So, you’re going to sue the Catholic Church?”
Photo courtesy Open Road Films
That one line sums up the insane ride that is Spotlight. Based on The Boston Globe’s investigation into the Catholic Church’s sexual assault scandal, the movie delivers an enticing, authentic look into what can happen when investigative journalism works.
Set in 2001, The Boston Globe has just had a change of editors with Marty Baron (played by Liev Schreiber) coming in from Florida.
A Jew in an overwhelmingly Catholic town, Baron questions why more investigation hasn’t been put into a recent story over a priest molesting young boys over the course of three decades. What begins as an investigation into one man turns into an international scandal on levels no one anticipated, and soon the team has a full-blown conspiracy on its hands.
This film has no dull or unnecessary moment. For two hours, viewers are engrossed in the development of one of the biggest stories ever produced in the journalism world, and never once does the action stop.
Many people wouldn’t think a story about journalism could be considered “action,” but there isn’t a moment where the drama and the intensity slows down.
The audience can feel the weight and the pressure that these people had to deal with, but it never feels too much.
Side stories are meticulously placed as more of quick moments to show the character’s personal struggles but in a way that relates directly with the story they are covering. For instance, team member Sacha Pfeiffer, played by Rachel McAdams, has to deal with her grandmother still being involved in the Catholic Church.
The cast is phenomenal. Their mannerisms, speech tone and behaviors are authentically delivered. Nothing feels forced. If an Oscar could be awarded to every member of a cast, this is a film that deserves it.
Given such a heady storyline, no character falls short of his/her reality. Each character is played to the fullest potential of personality. The Spotlight team (played by Mark Ruffalo, McAdams, Brian d’Archy James and Michael Keaton) function so well together that it would be hard to imagine any team member played by someone else.
They take the well-deserved cake in their portrayal of the often grueling, exhaustive work of investigative reporting and do it in a way that never stops being fascinating. This movie tells a story both gripping and appalling.
By the end, when the magnitude of all of it is revealed, one can’t stop thinking about how insane it is that this actually happened.
The insanity is epitomized by a list of cities internationally affected by the scandal right before the end credits.
Spotlight is an exceptional film that should be an Oscar contender.
