It was the quiet film that spoke its truth loud and clear. On Oscars Night in 2016, The Revenant was riding the crest of a wave: Leonardo di Caprio had won his first and much-longed-for Best Actor trophy and, for the second year in a row, Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu had scooped Best Director (he also won in 2015 for Birdman). Best Picture seemed to be a done deal — until Morgan Freeman read out the name of the winner. Spotlight, which has just been added to Prime Video.
The dignified, almost self-effacing, movie about the Boston Globe’s investigation into child abuse in the Roman Catholic Church had floated to the top and caused a big surprise. Until then, its screenplay — which also won an Oscar — and its ensemble cast had received more attention than the film as a whole.
And with a line-up that included Michael Keaton, Mark Ruffalo, Stanley Tucci, Liev Schreiber, Rachel McAdams and John Slattery, it was no wonder. The Spirit Awards and Critics Choice Awards both recognized its perfect balance of superb individual performances and a seamless team effort.
The film was based on the events of 2002 when the Boston Globe uncovered allegations of sexual abuse in the local Catholic Archdiocese and, despite continued denials, cover-ups and stonewalling eventually uncovered the truth and printed it.
The revelations were shattering for a city that, as shown in the film, was dominated by churches: they're everywhere in the panoramic and aerial shots and it feels like there’s one around every corner, casting dark shadows where they should be spreading light. Just as significantly, this is a story which continues to emerge around the world and in different branches of the wider church.
But, while Spotlight followed in the tradition of investigative journalism films such as All The President’s Men (1976) — The Post was to follow in 2017 — it took on a story that was just personal as it was political.
It's that added dimension that gives the film its weight and power, and it's exemplified in one silent moment. Sacha Pfeiffer (Rachel McAdams), a key journalist on the case, knows that when the story is printed, it will be devastating for her deeply devout grandmother (Ellen Padua). She decides to take her a copy of the paper straight off the press and be there when she reads it.
The scene goes quiet as the older woman scans the front page and eventually looks at her granddaughter with eyes full of pain and disbelief. Everything she’s believed in, everything she holds dear, has been exposed as a lie and her world is in splinters. It doesn’t get more personal and it’s a look, with all its simplicity, directness and heartbreaking humanity, that’s etched on the memory of anybody who's seen the movie.
![Spotlight | Official Trailer [HD] | Open Road Films - YouTube](https://img.youtube.com/vi/yXymzwz0V2g/maxresdefault.jpg)
That the outcome of the story is well documented is neither here nor there. The interest and tension lie in the details, the investigation itself and the tenacity of the journalists. We're shown the less glamorous side of their job, the legwork, the painstaking research, the doors slammed in their faces and the seemingly dead ends.
The film carefully sidesteps showing them as heroes, concentrating on a portrait of professionals doing their jobs and realizing that this story is different and probably the most important one they're ever likely to cover. So director Tom McCarthy, who also wrote the screenplay, approaches it with a straightforward, unfussy style that never forgets the victims, nor those around them. He keeps the inevitable moral indignation on a tight leash, but it’s always there.
A film for anybody fascinated by the workings of the media, newspapers especially, Spotlight has a much broader appeal as a piece of social history and, more simply, as a carefully crafted piece of filmmaking. In hindsight, perhaps it’s not so surprising after all that it came out on top.
Spotlight was added to Prime Video in the US on Saturday, 22 March. It is also now available on Prime Video in the UK.
