It’s a busy week for real stories receiving big screen adaptations. The film Spotlight details the 2001 exploration by several reporters from The Boston Globe into allegations of sexual abuse within the Catholic Church. This adaptation of the material boasts an incredible roster of talent in front of and behind the camera and the result is a solid narrative feature that believably depicts the detailed work that goes into uncovering a headline-grabbing story.
The Boston Globe writers and reporters include Walter Robinson (Michael Keaton), Sacha Pheiffer (Rachel McAdams), Mike Rezendez (Mark Ruffalo) and Ben Bradlee Jr. (John Slattery). When new editor Marty Baron (Liev Schreiber) arrives from Miami, he’s greeted with some suspicion by the staff. There’s further grousing when their new boss suggests the team look into allegations made against local priests. However, the crew’s attitudes change when the reporters discover validity in the claims. Even worse, they learn that the Church itself helped cover up several hundred abuses of power.
This is a movie that focuses primarily on the workday lives of the reporters. Among the stars, Ruffalo is particularly entertaining as Rezendes. He comes across as a real-life Columbo, continually following and pestering people until he gets a response or the information he’s seeking. That’s not to diminish the work of anyone else in the cast. Every person involved is completely convincing in their roles as they go about the difficult (and occasionally tedious) process of researching and interviewing persons for their story.
Admittedly, many watching will already know all the details of the actual event. Viewers are supposed to feel disbelief and surprise at the discovery of pederasts within the Church, but it doesn’t come across as a huge shock. Most people understand that abominable deeds can be done in any environment, so the reaction of the Spotlight employees to the investigation almost comes across as naive.
And while veiled threats are made, the reporters aren’t plagued with many hiccups in collecting evidence. The characters work diligently to uncover the story and they ultimately do so with little more than moderate resistance. In fact, the biggest problems are the paper’s own inactivity to follow up years before, and the process of applying and receiving internal church communication documents from the city records office. This may have been the way things really occurred, but it doesn’t always make for the most gripping narrative.
While it may not be as exciting as hoped, it’s still important to see a film like this. In today’s day and age, many media outlets appear desperate to get their story out first, regardless of its accuracy. Patience is a virtue in this movie. These reporters toiled for months, following every lead, fact-checking and double-checking their results. The commitment to getting it right resulted in the discovery of an even bigger conspiracy and a full and complete picture of events.
Spotlight is a solid drama buoyed by great performances. Admittedly, it may not feature much in the way of twists and turns. However, it is as well-produced a telling of this frightening real-life event as one could possibly hope for. Any aspiring journalists should check it out as well as anyone curious to see the work that goes behind any serious investigative piece.