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'Spotlight' : Corruption to the Core

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"I don't mean prayed for, I mean preyed upon."
The introduction of Spotlight portrays a seemingly small project given to the 'Spotlight' team in the Boston Globe, purely for the reasoning that the new editor saw the story in another local paper. But this seemingly small story snowballed into a huge reveal of the catholic church and the years of covering up a numerous accounts of child molestation cases. I couldn't help but feel a connection to this film as I grew up in a predominantly catholic community; and as I attended catholic schools, it was regular for us to go to church and engage with the priests and nuns - some of which even worked and taught at the schools. I was never a religious person mind; when I was old enough to think for myself I considered myself agnostic and so when hearing of all the abuse and molestation taking place in the catholic church not only in Ireland but around the world; it definitely struck close to home for me. So when hearing of Spotlight, it was intriguing to me, and after seeing the trailer, I knew it was a film I had to see. The plot is a true story about a team of reporters named 'Spotlight' delving into allegations of abuse in the Catholic Church. Their year-long investigation uncovers a decades-long cover-up at the highest levels of Boston's religious, legal, and government establishments.

 Spotlight begins with an ominous prologue; taking place in a police station, with very vague dialogue we are not certain as to what is going on, but we see a priest being detained in a room on his own, and another priest speaking with a mother and her children in the another room. Soon after this scene we are told of the situation at hand and therefore we begin the journey of delving into the depths of the Catholic Church. Throughout the film we are given accounts of the abuse from the victims, Justin Chang described these scenes saying: "There are no triumphant, lip-smacking confrontations here, no ghoulish rape flashbacks or sensationalistic cutaways to a sinister clerical conspiracy behind closed doors. There is only the slow and steady gathering of information." The plot line itself is very intriguing and captivating, as to how such a scandal was so easily swept under the rug. The film feels as though it is very much played out as if fiction and I found myself many times having to remind myself that this film was based upon true events, which was hugely affirmed before the credits as there is a report on Cardinal Law’s Pyrrhic fate after the story broke, and provides a list of other cities where Catholic sex-abuse scandals have been dragged out of the shadows. Hundreds of cities worldwide, as it so happens. 
Towards the beginning of Spotlight's investigations, they find a support group who specifically deal with victims of sexual abuse within the Catholic Church, where they make the revelation that it isn't a small thirteen or so people who have been abused, but rather closer to one hundred. Upon researching for this article, I was able to find the website of the organisation and they are called SNAP, standing for Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. The website offers a huge amount of material on priests, resources and, of course now that the situation has become eminent due to the film; the Spotlight team have their own tab on the website. I would urge everyone to take a look at it as it is very interesting and informative.

The Cast of Spotlight 
The introduction to the film is very fast paced; we are thrown into the plot line straight away with no real description or background given to the characters however, I don't feel as though it was even necessary for any exposition, as all the information we needed to hear was given throughout the film - the research and reveal of the accounts of abuse. There are huge character arcs to the members of the Spotlight team which we see developing, for example the character that Rachel McAdams plays Sacha Pfeiffer; attended church regularly and after taking up this case she stopped due to the discomfort and realization it gave her.
The cinematography of the film is very understated, although I feel like the cinematography did not need to be dominating factor to the film, due to the fact that it is very much narrative driven. Spotlight finds a thrilling and absorbing anti-glamour in journalistic spadework, and the tactile movement of analogue information through filing cabinets and photocopiers. Mark Kermode wrote in The Guardian about the cinematographer, Masanobu Takayanagi, and his approach to Spotlight, saying he, "goes for something more unobtrusively televisual with Spotlight, McCarthy burying any discernible visual “style” behind the more pressing issue of script and story." As aforementioned, there are no theatrical scenes of drama and no traumatic flash backs, but rather simple and realistic interactions with people. There was a sequence in relation to this that stood out to me; the scene cuts between two of the team’s interviews with abuse victims and the crossing back and forth reveals the shared patterns of grooming, but also the horrible specificity of every victim’s story in a very simplified and understated manner. However there was one scene in which Mark Ruffalo's character named Michael Rezendes, lashes out on his team leader - played by Michael Keaton - over the fact that they didn't run their story sooner. Which leads me onto my next point!
'Spotlight' office scene
Mark Ruffalo, in my opinion, is the shining star of this film. He plays his character as a very awkward yet determined person and I was completely convinced I wasn't watching an actor at work. When researching Mark Ruffalo's preparations for the film I was incredibly impressed, as his training was method acting in practice. When Ruffalo met the real Michael Rezendes for the first time at his home, he was carrying a notebook and an iPhone to record Rezendes' voice in order to get his most accurate speech pattern and during every break, Mark Ruffalo asked the real Michael Rezendes to say his lines for him. Ruffalo was even reported as becoming, "so engrossed in one of Rezendes’ more current investigations that he commandeered the journalist’s computer to keep replaying a video clip of a patient’s death in a mental institution."Unsurprisingly, Ruffalo has been nominated for an Oscar in his role in Spotlight and I have never been more confident in saying that he will win the award.
Mark Ruffalo as Michael Rezendes
Similar to Ruffalo, Michael Keaton pursued the real person his character was based off of - Walter Robinson and before meeting him, he found out he actually lived near Robinson's house. Keaton also obtained video and audio of Robinson and when he first met Robinson, he did an impression of him that Robinson was so scared and said to him, "How did you know everything about me, we just met?"  However I don't feel like Keaton's acting lives up to what some critics have made it, and it most definitely does not compare to Ruffalo's performance. Geoffrey Macnab described Keaton's performance in The Independent saying: "It's a fine character performance, a world away from Beetlejuice." Keaton's recent performances all feel very similar in how he portrays them; same facial expressions, same monotonous delivery of dialogue. I just don't believe that his acting in Spotlight  was spectacular, regardless of Robinson himself believing it to be so akin to himself. The different roles the foursome play in the gathering of evidence are carefully delineated. Robby, a dyed-in-the-wool Bostonian, knows best how to navigate the forces of the establishment – the courts, law enforcement and church, all arcanely interconnected – while Pfeiffer and MacLeish knock doors, wheedling, charming and cajoling assistance from members of the public.
When the film comes to an end we are met with the harsh reality of the churches hold on society, and most importantly - the government, as they were a close ally in covering up these horrendous crimes. Robbie Collin wrote about the conclusion to the film in The Telegraph saying: "There’s no tidy moral to take away here, which is, I think, entirely right: a story like this shouldn’t end in comfort. Instead, it leaves your skin prickling – both at the despicable business of secret-keeping, and the courage and resourcefulness that rivetingly overturns it." Spotlight is very much a story based film which we are made to put our full and sole attention to and this was done so easily for me. The absolute detail and depth that went into the research for this film is incredible and I feel like my eyes have been opened further to the knowledge of the situation of the scandals and to the dark, chilling fact that even though I sat watching the film thinking 'how could these people get away with such horrific acts?' The fact of the matter was - as the film slowly proceeds to tell us; everyone knew it was happening, but we all chose to ignore it. And on that note I'll end with one significant quote from Spotlight -“If it takes a village to raise a child, it takes a village to abuse one,”

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