A Review Of Spotlight

By Bethany Aveyard
Note: This is a review of the movie Spotlight (2015), which revolves around the sensitive issues reported by The Boston Globe in 2002. You don’t have to read on.

Anyway, let’s get started.

Spotlight (2015)

Director: Tom McCarthy

Starring: Mark Ruffalo, Michael Keaton, and Rachel McAdams

Awards: Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay at the Academy Awards

If you have seen Spotlight then you know what true events this movie is based on, if not then let me give you a short summary:

In 2001 the Spotlight journalists at The Boston Globe began an investigation in to the Catholic Church and the priests and brothers who sexually assaulted young catholic boys and girls of the over the previous 30 years. They reported on how these cases were covered up by the Archdiocese of Boston and it’s archbishop, Cardinal Bernard Francis Law. Now that’s just a summary. To really understand the impact of the story it must either be researched to it’s full or, easily enough, be watched in this movie.

Tom McCarthy’s direction of this story portrays the sensitive and personal travesties of the victims gracefully and in a way that tells their stories without sensationalising and, consequently, undermining them.

With the combination of the insanely talented cast, the gripping story and the eloquently written script, it would have been hard to get this movie wrong and, as predicted, this combination packs the perfect punch of compelling and brutally truthful. Special standout aspects include Mark Ruffalo’s performance as Michael Rezendez, with Ruffalo giving his consistently outstanding performance as he does in every role he plays.  A personal favourite member of the cast for me was Stanley Tucci’s performance as Mitchell Garabedian whose role as an attorney for the victims of the sexual assault was exceptionally played and felt very honest.

I do, however, believe that no movie is perfect and that is not an exception for the film; the focus of this movie is on the plot and the quality of the acting, but the pacing of the story is very slow and without a deep interest in focussing on your screen, the first 30-45 minutes may seem snail-paced.

Although, with a staggering 96% on Rotten Tomatoes, Spotlight has clearly been a triumph for 2015 cinema, which was confirmed by it’s winning of the Academy Awards for Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay.

However sensitive the subject and serious the issue, Spotlight is well deserving of a watch of everyone from both an informative standpoint and an appreciation of good cinema.