Spotlight

I actually didn't hear about Spotlight until maybe a month after it came out. But the minute I heard what this movie was about, the cast that was attached to it, and the critical acclaim it was receiving, I was overly excited to see this movie. And now that it won Best Picture for 2015, its about time I watched it... and review it a lot later than I originally planned.

But I'm also very nervous. This is a movie that takes a very big subject matter that not a lot of people like to really talk or even think about. I'm not even Catholic and I can recognize how incredibly difficult this topic is to a lot of people. And you may be thinking, how can anybody have any opinion besides the one against Catholic priests molesting children. While there is no side for that, that is exactly why this movie is interesting because it does create another side of this controversy, and that's why this movie is fascinating. 

Spotlight takes place in 2001 and focuses on the Boston Globe and their team of expert investigators, the Spotlight team. At the beginning, the Boston Globe hires a new editor named Marty Barton (played by Liev Schreiber). After a short time in his position, he urges the Spotlight team to investigate allegations that the Archbishop of Boston, Cardinal Bernard Law, was aware of priests sexually abusing children and did nothing about it. 

The Spotlight team was headed by a man named Walter "Robbie" Robinson (played by Michael Keaton) and the rest of the team is made up of characters who were very real reporters looking into this huge scandal that has surrounded the Catholic Church for a couple decades now. These people include Michael Rezendes (played by Mark Ruffalo), Sacha Pfeiffer (played by Rachel McAdams), Ben Bradlee Jr (played by John Slattery), and Matt Carroll (played by Brian d'Arcy James).

Outside of the Spotlight team you have a couple more really talented actors who really do a good job with this film. You have Stanley Tucci and Billy Crudup as a lawyers who represents victims of these priests, everyone really brings it in this movie and they take the subject matter very seriously. Mainly because this is all based on a true story of great work that reporters did to give justice to these victims. 

And that's probably one of the movie's biggest strengths. It really shines a real positive light on reporting and what it can do for those who can't get what they need from law enforcement or the system. They sometimes are able to be the voice of truth and speak for those who can't really speak for themselves. Its the kind of movie that makes you reconsider all the career choices that you've made and makes you almost decide that you want to go into journalism, that's how cool this movie makes journalism look.

And the interesting part is, the majority of this movie is just people sitting around talking in a room. Or the reporters going and doing interviews. There's no suspense, or action, or drama that is too over the top, its just good drama and intrigue that comes from a controversial topic like this one.

And you still might be thinking to yourself, how can priests molesting children be a controversial topic, either you're against it or you're a slime on the earth. That is true and the truth is, nobody is openly saying that what these priests did is okay. The controversy comes from the fact that in a community like the one in Boston, mixed with the fact that religion and especially the Catholic faith is such a personal thing to people that they would rather not deal with it, or they would rather sweep something like this under the rug. And while you may say that's still the worst, the movie does a really good job at showing the other side of the argument and almost makes you understand why people would keep quiet about something like this. However, the movie has a pretty strong message of, if we don't say something to speak for the victims, who will?

The performances in this movie are really what drives this movie home. The cast is not only solid by each individual, but they work perfectly as an ensemble. Michael Keaton is quickly becoming one of my favorite actors because everything he is in these days just turns out to be gold. Mark Ruffalo reminds us all that he's a much better actor and much more than just The Hulk, he's a very talented actor who brings a really compelling performance. Rachael McAdams continues to show that she's incredibly talented, the list goes on and on. There are just so many great actors in this movie and they all get the right amount of time to really show what they can do.

This is a very tough topic for a very mature audience. However, I think its a movie that a lot of people should see based on the moral arguments and informative narrative it has on a real tragedy that has happened in the church. You will experience a roller coaster of emotions from incredible sadness, to strong inspirational moments. And the movie is an eye opener. The ending itself is incredibly informative and powerful.

The short answer to the question is this, Spotlight is a very solid movie. There's a reason it won Best Picture. Now I haven't seen a lot of the movies that were nominated for Best Picture, but if I follow suite with what I did last year, I might start watching Oscar nominated movies and make a series of reviews soon. I don't know, maybe. But I really enjoyed Spotlight. I actually think it was one of my favorite movies of 2015 now that I think about it, that's how much I enjoyed this film that was basically a bunch of guys sitting around talking.

But what did you think about Spotlight? Did you enjoy it? Do you think it deserved to win Best Picture? If not, what did? Let me know which Best Picture nominee I should review next. Comment and Discuss below! You can also send me your thoughts on Twitter @cmhaugen24 as well as send me your requests for movies I should review in the future. If you follow me on Twitter, you can get updates on future movie news and reviews coming out of this blog.

I'll leave you with this. I have a couple of controversial movies in the pipeline I need to review and the next one is going to be the satire Dear White People. Here's the trailer for that. Enjoy!