Spotlight

Review:

Spotlight is based on the true story of the Boston newspaper, the Boston Globe, and its exposure of the historical abuse carried out by Catholic institutions in Boston. As the first Jewish editor of the paper, Marty Baron (Liev Schreiber) creates a team of journalists including editor Walter “Robby” Robinson (Michael Keaton) and journalist Michael Rezendes (Mark Ruffalo), to investigate several child molestation allegations against a retired priest. In a city where Catholicism is the centre of society, and where state and religion are far from separated, the team discover that “if it takes a village to raise a child, it takes a village to abuse one.” The film focuses not on the cover-up carried out by the Catholic Church, but on the Boston community’s deliberate ignorance of the abuse happening right under their noses. Spotlight took home two Academy Awards, ‘Best Motion Picture of the Year’ and ‘Best Writing, Original Screenplay’, proving that the abuse scandal is still an important matter today.

Jessica Carroll