(517'716 votes)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.
Spotlight, theatrically released in November 2015 by Open Road Pictures is an American biographical drama film is based on The Boston Globe’s “Spotlight” team’s (the oldest newspaper investigative journalism unit in Boston) comprehensive investigation and coverage of several systemic, extensive cases of Child Sexual Abuse in Boston by numerous Roman Catholic Clergies in early 2002 that brought the issue to national prominence in the USA, winning them The Pulitzer Prize in 2003 for Public Service. The film co-written and directed by Tom McCarthy was initially premiered in the Out of Competition section of the 72nd Venice International Film Festival, The Telluride Film Festival and the Special Presentation section of the Toronto International Film Festival in 2015. The cast featuring many versatile artists such as Mark Ruffalo (as Michael Rezendes), Michael Keaton (as Walter Robby Robinson), Rachel McAdams (as Sacha Pfeiffer), Brian d’Arcy James (as Matt Carol), Liev Schreiber (as Marty Baron), John Slattery (as Ben Bradlee Jr.), Stanley Tucci (Mitchell Garabedian) at al. not only won The Academy Award, The Screen Actors Guild Award, The Oscar but also received a widespread critical praise lauding the screenplay, the historical accuracy and the performance of the cast. The film got an astounding rating of 97% (based on 376 ratings) on Rotten Tomatoes, 8.1/10 on IMDB (based on 4,57,092 reviews), 93% on Metacritic (based on 45 reviews), 7.3/10 (based 11,037 reviews) on Film Affinity and grossed around $98.7 million.
PLOT
The film opens with the arrest of Father John Geoghan by the Boston PD in charge of child molestation in 1976 who is shortly released from the precinct free of any charges. Many years after this incident, in July 2001 Marty Baron, the new managing editor of The Boston Globe goes through an article on lawyer Mitchell Garabedian charging Archbishop of Boston, Cardinal Bernard Law of inaction against Father John Geoghan’s sexual abuse and violation of children inspite having knowledge of it. A curious Baron, later meets up with Walter Robby Robinson, the editor of the newspaper’s investigative unit “Spotlight”. To follow up the story, journalist Michael Rezendes contacts Garabedian who after initial decline to make any comment somehow gets persuaded to co operate. What was believed to be the story of one priest at the onset of the investigation takes a turn when the team uncovers a pattern of sexual abuse and molestation by several priests in Massachusetts leading to the revelation of a chain of extensive and systemic cases being covered up by the Boston Archdiocese. With the help of Phil Saviano the head of a victim’s rights group the Survivor’s Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) and a former priest Richard Sipe, the team broadens the investigative research to come up with a list of 87 abusive clergies. When the team starts to work on locating the victims, 11/09 attack forces them to deprioritize the story but when the team gets their hands on publicly available documents to confirm the Cardinal’s involvement and discreet actions to cook up a cover story, the investigation regains momentum. After rigorous hard work, the team at last manages to get all the legal documents to finally write the story and publish the findings of the research in early 2002. And what happens next is for you to watch and witness…
WHY YOU SHOULD WATCH IT
The film not only reveals the dark deeds committed in the shadow of religion by those disguised as the messengers of the Lord but also the silence of the victims in the fear of God. We teach our children to praise the God and fear the Devil but who should tell them that the Devil walks the same path as the God! During the investigation, team Spotlight learns that there are approximately 90 abusive priests (about 6%) in Boston only. What about other parts of the world? The brilliant screenplay, meticulous historical accuracy, apt editing and the crafting of cinema is so subtle that it vividly showcases the plight of the victims which makes Spotlight, a spotlight in the history of cinema. The team took the courage to bring the change. Even though this film ends with the team cracks decades old buried cases that never came to public knowledge because of the perpetrators who hid behind the mask of religion, can we say that it stops there? When sexual abuse, violation, molestation around the globe is going rampant day by day where can a child be safe? How do you imagine a child’s life in the aftermath of such a disgustingly horrible crime?
That’s right, you cannot.
P.S. Stop abuse of any kind and report it to the authorities when you witness/ come to know about one.
