Rayting:
8.1/
10 424.4K votes
Language: English
Release date: 28 January 2016
The true story of how the Boston Globe uncovered the massive scandal of child molestation and cover up within the local Catholic Archdiocese, shaking the entire Catholic Church to its core.
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User Reviews
Everything about this movie is outstanding -- the performances, the way the true events are handled, the cinematography. In this day of digital news, this movie makes us stand back and realize what we may lose in the way of investigative journalism as we slowly kill off print media.
The lengths the directors go to to achieve a sense of authenticity is remarkable. We are there in Boston in 2001-2002. We get to know enough about each character to make him or her real, but not enough to create side dramas. The focus remains the child abuse scandal in the archdiocese in Boston. That reflects the conflict the characters face and deal with when events make them rethink the focus of their article.
The movie is riveting, though we know the outcome.
Fmovies: Seconds after the credits for Tom McCarthy's "Spotlight" roll, an overwhelming feeling of changing your career takes over. Is film criticism really where I belong? What important, life-changing story am I not writing about? Truth is, quite a bit of classic films give off that same feeling. "Rocky" made a bunch of our fathers and older brothers go for a morning run and drink raw eggs. "Rudy" made us want to go out and play Notre Dame football. "Spotlight" makes you want to go down to your local courthouse and search the public records for clues. Then, get on the phone, with a pen and a pad, and start asking some really tough questions. Honestly speaking, "Spotlight" is the best investigative news drama this century. Matter of fact, behind "All the President's Men" and maybe "The Insider," it's among the best ever made.
"Spotlight" tells the true story of how the Boston Globe uncovered the massive scandal of child molestation and cover-up within the local Catholic Archdiocese, shaking the entire Catholic Church to its core.
Where you must begin, with any praise for the film, is the audacious and fortifying script by Tom McCarthy and Josh Singer. The two create cinematic magic in their articulation of words, characters, and narrative storytelling. Each person feels authentic. Each scene feels rich and equally important as the last. And most of all, its the tightest, most satisfying film from beginning to end, seen this year. From minute one, you're hooked, up until the last second, where they decide the last words spoken should be, "Spotlight" is astonishingly crafted.
I'm still in shock and awe that Tom McCarthy is the one who made this. This is a writer/director who I've appreciated but didn't have the "love" factor surrounding any of his films. Paired with an outstanding cast, co-writer Josh Singer, editor Tom McArdle, cinematographer Masanobu Takayanagi and composer Howard Shore, Tom McCarthy gets a chance to create his masterpieceÂ…and succeeds. He makes brilliant artistic choices, such as letting a Mark Ruffalo letter reading play over a 2-minute taxi car ride back to the newspaper. McCarthy's direction is one of the best directorial efforts from any filmmaker this year thus far.
All the players performing are top-notch but walking away, best-in- show, is the performance of Academy Award nominee Mark Ruffalo. Ruffalo exhibits his best screen performance to date, and makes a stake in his claim for the Oscar this year. Weirdly reminiscent of Joaquin Phoenix's work in "The Master," Ruffalo builds his 'Mike' from the feet up, giving him his own characteristics that I'm not sure McCarthy and Singer set out to do. His expressions in words, mannerisms, all encapsulate the magnitude of his work, bookended by an explosive scene that brought tears to my eyes. Think back to Emma Stone's acclaimed work in "Birdman," and the scene that made everyone notice. I wanted to simply applaud.
Michael Keaton and Rachel McAdams, who play "Robbie" and "Sacha" respectively, are attune with their characters and destinations. Each bring strong sensibilities and sensitivity to their roles that desperately call for them. Hotly worked into the story is Liev Schreiber as a newly appointed Editor, that in the little screen time he's given, makes a long-lasting impression. Stanley Tucci is also afforded the same opportunity, an
In "All the President's Men", young reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein uncovered a national political scandal when they, through their investigative journalism, revealed the White House under then President Richard Nixon was using campaign funding to finance dirty tricks of political enemies, nicknamed Watergate. In "Spotlight", a similar team of investigative reporters reveal a scandal of epic proportions which makes much of the Watergate scandal seem tame by comparison. They uncovered widespread sexual abuse of minors committed by priests of the Roman Catholic Church who, in turn, hid the crimes. Michael Rezendes (Mark Ruffalo), Walter V. Robinson (Michael Keaton), Sacha Pfeiffer (Rachel McAdams), Martin "Marty" Baron (Leiv Schreiber), Ben Bradlee Jr. (John Slattery), and Matt Carroll (Brian d'Arcy James) work for a group of investigative reporters within the Boston Globe called "Spotlight" who succeed in finding the skeletons in the Boston Diocese proverbial closet. For many years prior to the sexual abuse scandal, Spotlight had investigated and reported on many other ground-breaking stories.
The story begins with a quick flash-back to 1976 when a priest is jailed for sexual abusing a minor. The film then cuts to 2001. Marty Baron (Schreiber), a Jewish Floridian, becomes the main editor for the Boston Globe. He meets the different editors and journalists, and learns of work by Spotlight. A Globe column reveals a lawyer, Mitchell Garabedian, claims Cardinal Law, then Archbishop of Boston, knew Father John Geoghan, a priest within Law's diocese, was sexually abusing children, and the bishop did not bring him to the attention of authorities. Baron urges the Spotlight team to investigate further to see whether the claim is true and an isolated incident, or if there is more to the story. The "seed" is similar to the break-in of the democratic headquarters at the Watergate Complex which eventually revealed the Nixon White House had been engaging in multiple plots against perceived political enemies.
The Spotlight team is headed by Walter "Robby" Robinson (Keaton), a no-nonsense fair but tough reporter/editor. They agree to Baron's wishes and begin researching deeper to see if there is a larger story. Their first lead is the attorney mentioned in the article, Mitchell Garabedian (Stanley Tucci). Rezendes (Ruffalo) peruses Garabedian who acted as negotiator between the Boston Archdiocese and victims of Father Geoghan. The reporter wishes the attorney to reveal names of the victims, but at first Garabedian declines. Eventually, Garabedian agrees to contact victims, who are now much older, and ask them if they are willing to speak with Rezendes without revealing their names. Eventually, interviews are set up at the attorney's offices. The question then becomes whether there were other priests who engaged in similar criminal behavior against minors.
On another front, other members of the team, including Sacha Pfeiffer (McAdams), begin discovering the unspeakable reality of other victims possibly at the hands of more priests, aside from Geoghan. Then a tip from a former rehabilitation counselor for priests informs the team that, based on statistics, there may be as many as 90 priests involved with sexual abuse of children in the Boston Area alone. The team then appropriates volumes of an American guide book of Roman Catholic priests, published once a year, which lists the whereabouts of every clergyman in the church in terms of dio
Spotlight fmovies. ... because by the time the credits roll and you start to breathe normally again, you will suddenly realize that this was not a horror film as such, this was a re-enactment of events that actually happened, with real victims and real perpetrators and real well-meaning third parties covering up the whole thing as fast as the body count kept piling up.
And then you will once again have difficulty catching your breath.
As a film it is superb. McCarthy who did double duty as writer and director deserves acknowledgement. The cast is universally excellent. Ruffalo gives the performance of his career, Keaton is solid as a rock, and McAdams reaps overdue dividends from her decision to broaden her career into non-glamorous roles at a time when the only scripts they were sending her were for Diva parts. Smart lady.
A reviewer is not supposed to interject personal feelings in a review but I will say without apology that I miss films like these -- films that speak for the injustice in society and offer solutions -- and wish there were more of them. It seems that when I was younger there was a lot more interest in doing the right thing merely because it was the right thing. This no longer seems to be the societal meme, and that troubles me.
A must-see.
Throughout the year I watched many movies and by the middle of the year I was finding it hard to watch a movie. I really had to force my self. I thought my love for movies is dying and I'm more of a TV person now.
I was wrong.
This movie (and the big short) proved to me that it wasn't me, it was actually the movies I've seen this year.
This movie has it's flaws for sure. But the acting, script, direction, design and pace of the movie adds a lot to an already strong and heart breaking story. I was on the edge of my seat and even after the movie ended I couldn't move for a while.
A well made film that I recommend to any drama fan. It certainly helped me find my love for movies again.
Even with it's flaws I give it a 9.5
It won best film, deservedly so. This is a film that resonated with me long after I watched it. The complicated tale of the investigation of paedophile priests in Boston and the publication of it is told in riveting fashion by Tom Macarthy who does not waste a frame or a scene to anything less than the plot or character development. I never felt the running time or in any way disbelieved any of the actors in their portrayals.
Keaton seems to be on a total roll at the moment and he is excellent as the head of Spotlight but the whole ensemble seemed to put in a real shift. This felt like a documentary at times and I could feel the audience around me leaning forward as each new revelation is uttered.
Just brilliant.