Written by Josh Singer and Tom McCarthy and directed by McCarthy, Spotlight takes place in 2001 and is the true story of The Boston Globe reporters who discovered and weren’t afraid to write about the decades long sex abuse cover-up turned scandal of the catholic church. Mark Ruffalo as Mike Rezendes, Rachel McAdams as Sacha Pfeiffer, Michael Keaton as Walter “Robbie” Robinson, John Slattery as Ben Bradlee Jr. and Stanley Tucci as Mitchell Garabedian are the men and woman who found the evidence and talked to the now adults who were survivors of priest who committed the sex crimes. Yes it was hard to watch and listen to but The Globe and those involved in the making of this film, even 15 years later, knew it was an important issue.
As small film McCarthy allows the actors to use every inch of their talent to tell the story. Spotlight is a character driven film where the words are the central part of the tale. In other words NO explosions or car chases are necessary. The look of The Globe’s offices was messy and raw like you would imagine at such a time. Although a fictional take on what happened when Ruffalo and McAdams did their one on one interviews you truly felt for the victims as if you were watching a documentary.
All in all an excellent movie about finding the truth and not backing down when it needs to be told (one can only wish there were more reporters like them). If you haven’t check out Spotlight for yourself.
