Spotlight

2015 • 128 minutes

About this movie

SPOTLIGHT tells the riveting true story of the Pulitzer Prize-winning Boston Globe investigation that would rock the city and cause a crisis in one of the world’s oldest and most trusted institutions. When the newspaper’s tenacious “Spotlight” team of reporters delve into allegations of abuse in the Catholic Church, their year-long investigation uncovers a decades-long cover-up at the highest levels of Boston's religious, legal, and government establishment, touching off a wave of revelations around the world. Directed by Academy Award-nominee Tom McCarthy, SPOTLIGHT is a tense investigative thriller, tracing the steps to one of the biggest crime stories in modern times.

Ratings and reviews

Story about how Boston journalists uncovered the scandal of the "international priesthood of pedophilia". While the seriousness of the issue is well supported by a starlight casting, and the point is duly made that authorities and many "good Catholics" have this bad habit of keeping silent in the face of incontrovertible evidence of criminal behaviour in the ranks of those who claim to be speaking in the name of a God who may, or may not, exist, this film joins others in throwing the Spotlight on some sort of "surprise" on the part of everyone, as if rampant pedophilia and the subsequent conspiracy of silence were a relatively recent phenomenon, or some kind of modern failing on the part of the Catholic Church. Among many others, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, in his "Confessions", described in detail how in 1730 priests were seducing young boys throughout Europe. That it should come as a surprise 300 years later is, well, quite a surprise.

It's a good story. As far as the movie goes it is good but maybe not amazing. You should watch this movie, but without the drama of the subject matter, I feel that it wouldn't be as good as it is. The writing and acting is great and the entire watching experience fully captures your attention.

Well structured, terrifically acted and very well scripted plot. Contextual understanding is key and this film does it well. No question about how all characters are motivated and all acting is on par with the roles.