Il caso Spotlight

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!

The real life story of how The Boston Globe did the unthinkable, and exposed the huge cover up, The Catholic church trying to bury the numerous cases of child molestation among The Boston Archdiocese.

This is such a powerful, thought provoking movie, often difficult to watch, some of the content is truly sickening, but a very well made film, very well acted, the truth of how a story that needed to be told, came out, despite the efforts of many establishments to keep it suppressed.

It's not often a film makes me feel angry, Spotlight certainly did that.

Superbly acted by all involved, Stanley Tucci, Mark Ruffalo, Rachel McAdams and of course Michael Keaton.

There was one scene in particular that stood out, having spoken to The Priest who openly admitted to child abuse, Sacha looks down the road, and hears the innocent sound of children playing, that sent a chill down my spine.

That closing sequences were chilling, cover ups across the world.

9/10.

The whole movie is like a good news report itself. It tells the story, introduces people, looks for evidence and solves difficulties. Calm and clear, it is said that it is also very appropriate for the real office and living environment of journalists. Of course, in order to maintain this tone, the story of the news itself has been weakened, and the character of the reporter itself can not be deeply shaped.

Sometimes, a film of this type makes a real impact... just sometimes... But, it very often doesn't have any impact at all like in the case of movies like Dark Waters (Dupont) or Deepwater Horizon (BP) or Love & Other Drugs (Pfizer/Eli Lilly) or The Big Short (Banks) or Thank You For Smoking (Tobacco)... I'd like to think that this film had at least a measurable impact on society and more specifically, the amount of sexual abuse cases in religion... and that in itself, is commendable.

The film does a good job not only focusing on the main cast of characters, but also spends some time focusing on the sub-supporting characters, like the 'survivors' in the film and spends a good amount of time on the investigative part of the whole story as well... journalism like this didn't just fall out of the sky... it took months and months of hard researching and interviewing many many different people...

They obviously took some creative license wrt. the events and timeline of certain parts of the film, but overall about 90% of the events shown in the film actually happened. And overall it's a good film and a fantastic docu-movie that should be viewed by all at least once.

This movie undid something inside of me. It's that part of you that holds on to hope that people can be good, that there is hope for humanity. I knew the basics of it when I went to watch it: that it is about investigative reporters looking into a story of abuse in the catholic church. And it uncovered so much more than just that. Honestly, this movie should be seen by anyone who seeks the true face of the world. We don't live in a pink bubble of happiness. F*cked up things happen to people all the time; worst thing is when it happens to the innocent. The little ones who can't protect themselves. When they are robbed of their faith and their hope and their future. Sitting in the film theatre on the last row, I was brought to tears as in front of me a long list of places where victims spoke out was scrolling. I was both shocked and mad. I felt sorry that people can fail so miserably. "Mike Rezendes: They knew and they let it happen! It could've been you, it could've been me, it could've been any of us." Indeed. When we witness darkness and we shut up and we don't do anything about it, that's when we fail. A poet once wrote, "You can join the millions talking in the dark. Or you can stand up and scream light, out into the night." So choose to stand up. In your profession choose to eradicate the oblivion of evil. This movie is a masterpiece. From the dedication of the actors to their roles, to the script, the director and the cinematography. The score? Fantastic. Howard Shore did it again!