Spotlight Movie Review

Spotlight it’s a 2015 American biographical drama film directed by Tom McCarthy and written by McCarthy and Josh Singer. The film follows The Boston Globe's "Spotlight" team, the oldest continuously operating newspaper investigative journalist unit in the United States, and its investigation into cases of widespread and systemic child sex abuse in the Boston area by numerous Roman Catholic priests. 

It’s an auteur like its predecessor “THE ENTIRE PRESIDENT’ S MEN” in its genre. The subject of whom it vividly put forth via the silver screen is quintessential and relevant in contemporary time. The theme of ethical journalism and hegemony of religious institutions are the Magna-Carta of this award-winning drama which was based on a series of stories by the "Spotlight" team that earned The Globe the 2003 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service.The film stars Mark Ruffalo, Michael Keaton, Rachel McAdams, John Slattery, Stanley Tucci, Brian d'Arcy James, Liev Schreiber, and Billy Crudup. 

It streamlined the narrative to focus on the Boston Globe’s spotlight team and their investigation regarding sexual abuse charges on clergy members of Archdiocese of Boston. Director Todd Mccarthy marshaled his troops along the line of an eloquent screenplay which was a poignant tale of journalism at its apex. The narrative and the director always adhered to the cobblestone of factoids and didn’t lapse its focus for a single heartbeat.

The resultant product is an honest and authentic tale of abuse of power and hypocrisy of our religious organisation. Spotlight gracefully handles the lurid details of its fact-based story while resisting the temptation to lionise its heroes, resulting in a drama that honours the audience as well as its real-life subjects.

.

The whole cinematic panorama was brimmed with astounding performances, Mark Ruffalo, Michael Keaton; Rachel McAdams portrayed their characters with exuberance and honesty which procreates empathy from the audience. The onscreen spotlight team with their vivid array of emotions and adherence to their characters projected the essence of ethical and conscious journalism, which the fourth pillar of constitution lacked drastically now more than ever. The production design, the customs and even the cinematography lean heavily on recreating an office space akin to Boston Global with all minute details. 

The academy award for best picture spoke volume on this rendition of superbly controlled and enterprisingly detailed account of the Boston Globe's Pulitzer Prize-winning investigation into the widespread paedophilia scandals and subsequent cover-ups within the Catholic Church. It holds out a mirror to our institutions and their prolonged hypocrisy.

A tale of a timely and cautionary reminder of how the agents of religion and justice could be corrupted by the power bestowed upon them to protect the downtrodden and less fortunate of society. Watch it with sullen heart and observant mind, a timely tale of physical as well as spiritual abuse of religious establishments, and what it could be meant for religion as a whole where the less fortunate seek solace when battered and discredited by “THE WORLD”.

If you haven't watched this movie, I highly recommend it. 
I am going with 8.6/10 for this journalistic drama and an honest and authentic tale of abuse of power and hypocrisy of our religious organisation.