Hollywood has this bad tendency to tell us that the film we're watching is "based on a true story" when in actuality a lot of the story has been embellished, or the facts have been skewed to fit a Hollywood-style plot, or there's really nothing true about it at all. Finally, we have a film that does away with all of the Hollywood embellishment bullshit and gets down to the nitty gritty. It's a factual film and it's a great film, one that will hopefully gain some Oscar buzz and get a wider release to reach a wider audience. The film, of course, is Spotlight.
Spotlight is the story of a group of journalists from The Boston Globe in 2001 discovering the long-occurring scandal of Catholic Priests molesting children and getting it covered up for too long. Among them is team leader Walter 'Robby' Robinson (Michael Keaton), Mike Rezendes (Mark Ruffalo), Sacha Pfieffer (Rachel McAdams), Brian James (Matt Carroll), and editor Marty Baron (Liev Schreiber). What starts off as a story about a singular priest in Boston turns into the discovery of seven which leads to close to ninety priests just in Boston alone that have molested hundreds of kids with zero repercussions. This team is solely responsible for bringing the issue to the public and calling out thousands of priests across the world proving that this isn't just an issue, but an epidemic.
What's great about the film is it is just that-- the investigation leading to the story. It's a true story and it's actually more interesting than anything they could've done to improve it or Hollywood-ize it. Recently, there was a film, Concussion, that I truly enjoyed and I think was an important movie to both be made and be seen. However, there were very clear scenes of Hollywood exaggeration. There's a love story surrounding the medical discovery and the doctor who made it. Then, there's a scene where the girl is being followed by a car that may or may not have been a spook from the NFL (this sounds sillier than it actually was), but it was most certainly Hollywood-ized. The movie was good, but it was made to fulfill the standard Hollywood structural narrative. Spotlight doesn't do that. It also has a very important story to tell, but it does right by everyone involved. We don't get a lot of the backstory of any of the journalists. We don't see into the home life of Michael Keaton. We don't get much in the way of severe character development. Characters will come in and complain of being tired or not seeing their spouse as much, but that's as much backstory as we get... and as we need. The movie revolves entirely around the investigation. It's perfect because we don't need all the other fluff. The story is compelling just as it played out in real life.
This isn't to say that there aren't great performances, characters, and emotionally acute moments because there are. Keaton, once again, is fantastic and Mark Ruffalo, aside from looking just like Mark Ruffalo, is hardly recognizable. They honor both the journalists and the victims with this film while continuously providing a hefty 'fuck you' to the catholic church. This movie was certainly one of the best films of the year and one I recommend to anyone who enjoys watching something as engaging and emotionally resonant as this film. It has the ability to shock and awe solely by providing facts and not manipulating the story in order to serve a more entertaining purpose. It's highly entertaining as it is.
A
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