A Movie Review: Spotlight

Spotlight. This movie is based on real events regarding a massive cover-up by the Boston Catholic Archdiocese regarding child molestation. The movie title comes from the investigative team for the Boston Globe. Walter Robinson (Michael Keaton) leads the team as they carefully go through the evidence. Many of their leads come from newspaper clippings where short articles were written up regarding settlements between the Catholic Church and victims, but no follow-ups were ever made. So this isn't just a move about the corruption within a church, but also about the free pass provided the church by the community.

This is a movie that really makes one consider a career in journalism. I think a top notch movie often does that -- be it a musician, an FBI agent, a police detective. I love how this movie follows the reporters as they question victims, former Catholic leaders, lawyers and various other individuals.

There is a lot more to love about this movie:

I love how the movie deals with the most simplest of things -- time, as an example. Sacha Pfeiffer (Rachel McAdams) is working with a support group, interviewing various members of the group. Unfortunately, Sept 11th, 2001 happens and the whole newspaper focuses in on the aftermath of the terrorist attack. I really like how Sacha Pfeiffer responds to the group leader, mentioning the fact that 2 months has passed. It allows the viewer to put things into a timeline context.

I love how the movie makes things personal when Matt Carroll (Brian d'Arcy James) figures out that child molesters are living just around the corner of his house. It is personal, because he has children and he obviously knows the neighborhood children. And yet, he can't say anything to his neighbors.

I love how the movie tosses in tidbits. One being that we're viewing the final days of a dying media -- the all powerful newspaper; that we're just about to enter a new world of journalism.

And being a numbers guy: I love how they toss out statistics throughout the movie.

What would I have liked to have seen in this movie:

I would have loved a few scenes of Cardinal Law (Len Cariou), meeting with his staff as they discussed the Spotlight investigation. Cardinal Law knew the investigation was happening. What was he thinking? Well, maybe that is just something we don't know.