By Jeremiah May ’17, Contributor
Spotlight is an eye-opening drama based on a true story of a Pulitzer Prize-winning special investigative journalism team that uncovered a massive sexual abuse cover-up in the Catholic Church. The drama unfolds as Marty Baron (Liev Schreiber) takes over as the Editor-in-Chief of The Boston Globe. A Florida Jew, he is a complete outsider to the Catholic Bostonian world. When he reads an article where a lawyer claims that the Archbishop of Boston knew that a priest was abusing children and did nothing to stop it, he assigns the long-term team, Spotlight, to the investigation. The team – composed of experienced veteran leader Walter “Robby” Robinson (Michael Keaton); passionate, short-tempered Mike Rezendes (Mark Ruffalo); and tenacious but compassionate Sacha Pfeiffer (Rachel McAdams) – breaks through the veil that hides these abuses and those complicit in them in Boston. Although the town seems to be conspiring against them, the Spotlight team manages to uncover evidence of widespread abuse and cover-ups. Priests were moved from church to church or sent on temporary “sick leave” in an attempt to cure their pedophilia rather than being punished or defrocked. The team learns that even writers at their own paper have known about and ignored evidence for years. Finally managing to tear away the curtains of secrecy that the church has established in Catholic Boston, they print their story in 2002, causing worldwide astonishment.
The film succeeds based on its foundation of fantastic writing and experienced actors which convey the shocking story; as they slowly uncover the depth and breadth of the horrific abuses that the Roman Catholic Church had covered up and ignored. The three core actors: Michael Keaton, Mark Ruffalo, and Rachel McAdams all played their roles astoundingly well and the supporting cast also had brilliant performances that helped establish the feelings of disgust, guilt, and anger that run through the film. Although the film has received some criticisms for its portrayal of some characters and their reluctance to help aid the investigation, most of this criticism has been dismissed as it has come from the very people being portrayed. Spotlight was nominated for six Academy Awards in at the 88th Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay, both of which it won. Racheal McAdams also earned the film a nomination for Best Supporting Actress and Mark Ruffalo propelled the film into a nomination for Best Supporting Actor. Tom McCarthy, along with Josh Singer, won for Best Original Screenplay but he lost to Alejandro González Iñárritu of The Revenant for best Director. Although Spotlight was nominated for Best Film Editing, it lost to Mad Max: Fury Road. The film is the second lowest grossing film to win Best Picture, with only 32 million in box-office earnings at the time of the Academy Awards.
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