"Spotlight" Review : Journalists Exposed a Sex-abuse Scandal in the Catholic Church
By Jeff Baker
"Spotlight" is a straightforward movie, written, acted and directed in a conventional, old-fashioned way, that tells an extraordinary story: how in 2001-02 a team of investigative reporters and editors from The Boston Globe exposed a pattern of sexual abuse by Catholic priests. The Globe articles showed how the church sheltered pedophile priests and transferred them to different parishes where they could commit the same awful crimes on innocent children. It is not an exaggeration to say the Globe's reporting changed the world. The problem of pedophiles within the priesthood was not new or unique to Boston and had been written about elsewhere; it was well-known in law enforcement and among networks of abuse survivors. But the Globe's reporting, particularly the way it showed a systemic coverup within the church, sparked investigations that have led to billions of dollars in settlements and an apology from Pope Francis, who said the church must "weep and make reparation" for what he called the actions of a "sacrilegious cult" of priests. Title cards at the end of "Spotlight" list hundreds of cities around the world, including Portland, where child abuse scandals within the Catholic church have been uncovered. The Globe's Spotlight team did not set out to make history. It took an outsider, new editor Marty Baron, to put fresh eyes on what was considered an isolated incident and asked if there was a connection to other cases. The Globe's staff was uneasy about Baron's arrival and worried about rumors of layoffs after the paper's acquisition by The New York Times. Baron saw a reference in a Globe column about sealed files in a case involving a pedophile priest, John Geoghan, and decided the paper would sue to obtain the files, putting it in direct conflict with the church. Baron directed the Spotlight team leader and self-described "player-coach," Walter Robinson, and his supervisor Ben Bradlee Jr. to pursue the story. The Spotlight staff, reporters Sacha Pfeiffer, Matt Carroll, and Mike Rezendes, did so in time-tested ways: Pfeiffer began locating and interviewing abuse victims, Carroll dug into documents, Rezendes worked a source, victims' attorney Mitchell Garabedian. It was a slow process, and "Spotlight" takes its time. The journalists are not shown as conflicted heroes but as committed professionals who know what they're up against and how important it is to get it right. They are human, the story takes a toll on them, but they do not give up. "Spotlight" is a movie about power, deference to power and the power of truth. Boston at the turn of this century was still a closed society dominated by great institutions, the Catholic church foremost among them and the Globe prominent but well down the list. For decades the church used its power to silence victims and intimidate those who dared challenge it. When Pfeiffer asks a victim what his mother did when someone from the church came to talk about the abuse, he says she put out a plate of cookies. A decade before the Geoghan case, Cardinal Law, the archbishop of Boston, said "By all means we call down God's power on the media, particularly the Globe," for its coverage of another pedophile priest, James R. Porter. Going up against the church took courage and tenacity, qualities embodied in Baron, the first Jewish editor of the Globe, and Robinson, the Spotlight team leader. "Spotlight" does back off from hard questions about whether the paper ignored and was therefore complicit in the abuse scandal as it dragged on for decades, poisoning the fabric of the city. Robinson is a native son, a graduate of Boston College High School, and was a city editor when stories about pedophile priests appeared and were not pursued. I've deliberately waited to discuss the filmmakers and actors behind "Spotlight" because its content is more important, but it is the way that content is presented that makes the movie so moving and important. Tom McCarthy, the co-writer and director, became interested in journalism when he played a deceitful reporter on the final season of "The Wire." His approach on "Spotlight" was to immerse himself in the details of the stories and to have his actors shadow the journalists and show their working lives as accurately as possible even if it meant the mundane would be elevated over the dramatic. The opposite occurred, partly because people doing their jobs right is inherently interesting (something few in Hollywood have ever understood), partly because these were extraordinary people working the story of a lifetime, and partly because of a dream cast. Michael Keaton plays Robinson, low-key and confident, a different performance that his showy turn in "Birdman" but at least as effective. Liev Schreiber puts his quiet intensity to use as Baron, a man who keeps his eyes open and mouth shut. Mark Ruffalo and Rachel McAdams are the reporters, Rezendes and Pfeiffer, empathetic and tough in different ways. John Slattery, Boston native, is Bradlee Jr. Brian d'Arcy James is Carroll, the reporter who realizes there might be pedophile priests living down the street. Best of all is Stanley Tucci as Garabedian, a defense attorney who stood up for the littlest victims, the powerless, when no one else did. "Spotlight" is set during a period of enormous economic and cultural change. The Internet was just starting to become a part of daily life; the Globe reporters did their research in libraries, not online, and the transformation of newspaper journalism was barely underway. Unlike "All the President's Men," the other great modern journalism film, "Spotlight" is a snapshot of what happened at a particular time and place and doesn't try to glamorize its subjects or make any larger points about what it all means. By refusing to do so, by celebrating the process over the outcome and the work over the reward, it becomes a special experience, a movie that matters. "Spotlight" Grade: A Rating: R Running time: 128 minutes Cast and crew: Michael Keaton, Rachel McAdams, Mark Ruffalo, Liev Schreiber, John Slattery, Brian d'Arcy James, Stanley Tucci. Written by Tom McCarthy and Josh Singer. Directed by McCarthy. The lowdown: A team of Boston Globe reporters expose child abuse scandals and coverup in the Catholic church. -- Jeff Baker Contact: jbaker@oregonian.com 503-221-8165 @jjbakerpdx
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