Spotlight

Spotlight is not a complicated movie. It is, in fact, a shockingly basic journalism movie. A team of reporters cracking a case, tracking down leads, conducting interviews, gathering and documented evidence. If you were to judge Spotlight on originality, it would be an absolute failure. It does nothing you haven't seen before in this kind of movie. Spotlight's strength isn't being original. It's in the story itself. It's the idea of a newspaper taking on the Catholic Church in Boston, one of the most predominately Catholic cities in America, and daring to hold them accountable for the pattern of protecting and sheltering pedophiles in the clergy. It is going after an institution in the institution's (American) cradle, and everyone around the team questioning them, trying to tell them this is a suicide mission, and doing it anyway because it's the right thing to do. It also has strength in its performances. When you assemble a cast like Michael Keaton, Rachel McAdams, Mark Ruffalo, Liev Schrieber, and Stanley Tucci, you're going to get something special. Ruffalo as the passionate, fiery reporter who wants justice. McAdams as the compassionate, determined reporter who isn't native to Boston, so it impacts her differently. Keaton as the editor of the department, someone who grew up in the church, who has ties to people deep in the church, and wants to see the story done right. Schrieber as the new out-of-town editor-in-chief who has no ties to the city, and therefore has no reservations kicking over rocks that people expect to stay in place. And Tucci as the rebellious lawyer wiling to openly take on the system. This is a cast of heavyweights going hell bent for leather, and it is marvelous. I wish I could offer a deeper analysis of this movie, but it doesn't need it. Spotlight sells itself on the strength of its cast, the way it portrays the investigation, how difficult the investigation is in a town like Boston, and how it impacts each of the reporters differently. This is an acting movie through and through. You come for that, and Spotlight delivers that in spades. I expected something good from a cast like this. I did not expect to be moved, to be horrified, and to see a powerful reminder (especially in this day and age, when hallowed institutions of journalism are being torn apart) that journalism can be a force for good when the motivations behind it remain pure: to educate the public on what they need to know. That is Spotlight's greatest strength.