In the early 2000s, a right-wing website propounded that Catholic seminaries possibly around the world had become havens for homosexual men. If this is true, it is hardly the biggest shocker one could hear that out of these havens came priests who were pedophiles opting to sexually molest young boys (albeit girls were molested too) such as all those the movie Spotlight (2015) steadily refers to. Only boys are referred to as the Boston Globe reporters interview the men who, as youths, encountered the perverted priests.
No, Spotlight is not a documentary, but rather a drama about the Globe‘s reportage on the molestation and Church cover-up scandal. The vile Father John Geoghan is there, briefly, in the film’s prologue, after which, well over 20 years later, the Globe‘s new editor (Live Schreiber) proves curious about the Geoghan legal case. Some of the best scenes in the movie feature the lawyers of victims as they speak to the reporters. They are played by Stanley Tucci and Billy Crudup, and both they, and the scenes’ dialogue, are grabbers. The engrossing, humorless screenplay is by the director, Tom McCarthy, and Josh Singer. McCarthy and his cinematographer keep the fancy visuals out of Spotlight, with camerawork that is almost flavorless. They know the spectator’s attention must be on the Globe‘s discoveries, on the deadly serious subject matter.
Memorably is the newspaper team enacted by John Slattery, Brian d’Arcy James, Rachel McAdams, Mark Ruffalo (who is superb), and Michael Keaton (as deep and effective as he was in Birdman).
