Spotlight (2015)

Director: Tom McCarthy
Story: Tom McCarthy and Josh Singer
Cast: Michael Keaton, Mark Ruffalo, Rachel McAdams, Liev Schreiber 
Music: Howard Shore
Time: 129 minutes
Bottom-line: Elegant, clean and captivating

The Best Picture winner at the 88th Academy Awards was this drama based on the real life Pulitzer Prize winning investigation. Nominated for six Oscars, Spotlight ended up with two – Bes  Picture and Best Original Screenplay. The film stars Michael Keaton, Mark Ruffalo and Rachel McAdams in the lead roles, with Liev Schreiber, Stanley Tucci, Brian d'Arcy James and John Slattery in the supporting roles.

Break the story. Break the silence. 
2001 – The Boston Globe’s new editor, Marty Baron (Schreiber) meets Walter Robinson (Keaton), editor of the Spotlight team, a group of investigative journalists consisting of Mike Rezendes (Ruffalo), Sacha Pfeiffer (McAdams), Matt Carol (James) and Ben Bradlee Jr. (Slattery). After reading an article about a lawyer, Mitchell Garabedian (Tucci) – who claimed that the Archbishop of Boston knew that a priest was sexually abusing children but did nothing about it – Baron encourages the Spotlight team to investigate. The team slowly begins to unearth a pattern of sexual abuse by Catholic priests. As they press the issue further, they realise that the case is far deeper, and far more sinister...

The lead three characters - Keaton as Robinson
(centre), Ruffalo as Mike (right) and
McAdams as Sacha

Unlike the plot – one of the most controversial cases in Boston history – the film however, captures it in a clean manner. The film emphasises more on the power of journalism, and not on exposure of the Church. It’s one of those rare masterpieces like Zodiac, which bring a set of actual incidents to life, on screen, and portray them so faithfully without any unnecessary drama. The pace is well-set: rapid enough to keep you raving for more, while being slow enough to capture every single detail. The language is simple enough – anyone watching the film can follow the events happening, unlike the other biographical film of 2015 – The Big Short, which according to me, was too complex for a layman to understand.

The cast is well chosen; I particularly liked the combination of Michael Keaton and Ruffalo. The latter is someone who has had few bright spots in his career (The Avengers, Begin Again to name a few), and now I add Spotlight to that list. Ruffalo brings to the screen a charismatic performance as the inquisitive and cogent journalist. The former, is the experienced guide/veteran, who impresses again, following one of career best performances as Riggan Thomson in Birdman. Rachel McAdams seemed to be a bit of a disappointment; she hardly shows any interest in playing the role. In fact her minor role as Irene Adler is Sherlock Holmes was more exciting to watch. The supporting actors like Stanley Tucci have done well too.

The Spotlight crew - Schreiber as Marty(2nd from left),
Slattery as Bradlee Jr (2nd from right) and
James as Carol (rightmost)

In two hours Spotlight compiles all the drama of a case that shook the world, thanks to its well developed plot – with enough substance thanks to the fact based true story – powerful acting, and overall presentation. It ended being a box office failure compared to the other 2015 films (The Force Awakens grossed over $2 billion!!), and not half as action-packed, but nevertheless, Spotlight is the film that certainly deserved Best Picture, and justly ended up winning it too!

My Rating: 4.5/5
Rotten Tomatoes rating: 96%