Review: Spotlight

It starts off with a single priest. It ends with allegations against 87 abusive priests. That is in Boston alone. Spotlight, the compelling fifth feature by Tom McCarthy, is the story of how The Boston Globe exposed not just the widespread child abuse by priests in the Boston area, but also its systemic cover-up by the Boston Archdiocese who would merely shuffle the paedophilic priests from one parish to another.

The film begins in 2001. The Globe has just hired a new editor, Marty Baron (Liev Schreiber), described as "an unmarried man of Jewish faith who hates baseball." This brands him an instant outsider in a city full of baseball-loving Catholics. The staff are worried about layoffs, a concern Baron does little to alleviate over a conversation with Walter "Robby" Robertson, a veteran reporter overseeing the Globe's Spotlight section. Readership is down and the Internet is cutting into the classifieds business. Yes, there is a financial bottom line to be acknowledged, but Baron's focus is to make the paper do better in its reporting.

To that end, he respectfully tasks the self-contained Spotlight team to further investigate a story that keeps getting buried in the back pages but refuses to go away. Father John Geoghan has been accused of molesting some 80 children in different parishes over the course of three decades. Mitchell Garabedian (Stanley Tucci), an attorney for many of the victims, claims to have documents that show the Archbishop of Boston was aware of the wrongdoing but did absolutely nothing about it. The Spotlight team know they have to get their hands on those documents to make any inroads, but Baron informs them that the paper will need a court order to lift the protective seal placed on the documents. In other words, the Globe will have to sue the Catholic Church, not an especially prudent move for a newspaper whose subscribers are 53% Catholic.

Comparisons to All the President's Men are inevitable, not only because Spotlight takes place in the same milieu but also because McCarthy's film is as intelligent and rousing. This is a procedural that sticks to the process. Very little personal background is given for our protagonists, nor should there be. All we need to know about them is they are all dedicated, dogged and smart individuals who are very good at doing their jobs. And all of them have a shared goal: uncover the truth and tell the story. As with All the President's Men and the more recent Zodiac, Spotlight crafts a symphony out of the mundane elements that comprise investigative journalism. People are questioned then questioned some more, lists are made and checked and re-checked, directories are pored over, courthouse forms are filled out, more questions are asked and more answers are scrutinised and more leads are followed upon, and so on and so forth.

Yet it never feels boring. On the contrary, McCarthy paces it like a thriller, with each discovery propelling into the next. The details become more lurid, the cover-up more expansive. Everyone knows, but no one wants to talk. "If it takes a village to raise a child, it takes a village to abuse one," Garabedian notes, and it is unsettling how effectively Spotlight illustrates that sentiment.

The powerhouse ensemble is flawless. Keaton's wise underplaying renders his character's flickers of moral ambiguity all the more palpable. Billy Crudup is excellent as the lawyer who proclaims to do the best for his victims but who operates in such a way as to ensure the abuse is kept under wraps. Schreiber is the stealth MVP as the quietly commanding leader who sets everything in motion. Mark Ruffalo shines as the most rabid dog in the Spotlight team whilst Rachel McAdams offsets his passionate intensity by conducting a master class on artful observance and eloquent listening. There's a startling scene that has her character, Sacha Pfeiffer, going door to door in the hopes of tracking down one or more of the predatory priests. One such priest opens the door and casually admits to multiple acts of abuse. He's innocent, he points out, because he didn't get any pleasure from it. A look of horror paralyses Pfeiffer's face, but then she recovers her composure and soldiers on. It's not about her or this priest, it's about the victims and getting the story right.

Spotlight

Directed by: Tom McCarthy

Written by: Tom McCarthy, Josh Singer

Starring: Michael Keaton, Mark Ruffalo, Rachel McAdams, Liev Schreiber, John Slattery, Brian d'Arcy James, Stanley Tucci, Billy Crudup, Jamey Sheridan, Neal Huff, Jimmy LeBlanc, Michael Cyril Creighton, Paul Guilfoyle