Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *
Cast: Mark Ruffalo, Michael Keaton, Rachel McAdams, Liev Schreiber, John Slattery, Brian d’Arcy James, Stanley Tucci, Gene Amoroso, Elena Wohl, Neal Huff, Billy Crudup, Duane Murray, Brian Chamberlain, Paul Guilfoyle, Michael Countryman, David Fraser, Paloma Nuñez.
Inside every writer, is the journalist they want to be and when the right story breaks, when the article or report that falls into their lap that could make their name, there always is a price that is to be paid that comes attached to it; a price that some are not willing to pay and some find too enormous to bring down. When the subject matter is corruption within one of the fabled estates of the land, the hesitancy in pursuing the story may be understandable for the price is taking away people’s faith, it is the Spotlight on which some might not recover.
Josh Singer’s and Tom McCarthy’s script for Spotlight is one that stands out for many reasons, least of all for its ability to place itself as a 21st Century film that stands shoulder to shoulder with the likes of All The President’s Men, but instead of one of the most notorious and divisive figures in American politics being under the scrutiny of the watchful cinematic eye, Spotlight instead focuses deeply on the scandal of abuse within the Catholic Church in Boston.
It is the very act of investigative journalism that many find unnerving, some who would say such things don’t belong in the public mind for the fear the loss of face it brings the church would be more comfortable sat in denial but as the full extent of the film makes its presence felt, the supreme acting by Michael Keaton as Walter Robby Robinson, Mark Ruffalo as Mike Rezendes and the prestigious Stanley Tucci as Mitchell Garabedian making its mark upon the audience, the truth of the scale of corruption of the Church’s involvement of abuse of children spreading back over decades is one in which you cannot help but feel thankful for having been investigated.
Spotlight is one of those rare films that will open your mind and allow you to see what is truly going on in the world and will add fuel to the fire of the churches, any denomination, control and systematic abuse that some revel in. A film of great importance!
Ian D. Hall