Before you consider watching "Spotlight", I STRONGLY urge you to think twice. It isn't because I think it's a bad film--it's amazingly good. But it's also a difficult film to watch--particularly if you or someone close to you has been a victim of sexual abuse. I know that in my case, it was particularly tough because I am a retired psychotherapist and used to specialize in working with sexual abuse victims and perpetrators...the latter, which, I think benefit very little from treatment (which is much of the reasons I changed careers).
The story is about not only the discovery of a huge number of pedophile priests in the Boston parish by Boston Globe reporters but the organization's discovery that the problem went all the way to the top. In other words, even the beloved Cardinal Bernard Law KNEW about the many, many victims and yet did nothing to discipline them or restrict their access to more victims. But the film doesn't just talk about so much that we know to be true today but it covers the stop by step process by which the paper began and completed the investigation.
Why did I give the film a 10...particularly since I almost never give films such high scores? Well, the reason is that the folks making the movie really, really cared about the subject matter and getting it right. Instead of focusing on making money with the film and including the usual glitz and glamour, the filmmakers chose instead to emphasize realism above all else. Normal looking actors (such as Michael Keaton and Mark Ruffalo) are used...and they make efforts to keep them normal looking. Additionally, the film has a relatively slow and deliberate pace--again as they weren't interested in making a pretty or Hollywoodizing the production. Overall, a great film made greater because the folks making it really, really seemed to care and wanted to get it right...which showed great sensitivity for the subject matter and the victims. Great film!
