Review - Spotlight

“Break the story – break the silence.” That is exactly what director Tom McCarthy aimed to do when he co-wrote Spotlight with Josh Singer in 2013. Telling the powerful tale of the Pulitzer Prize-winning investigation into the cover-up of child abuse by priests in the Catholic Church, Spotlight stands tall as one of the top films of 2015. This film demonstrates beautifully the power of journalism, following the Boston Globe’s Spotlight Team, a group of investigative reporters who exposed the cover-up in 2002.

Spotlight’s ensemble cast is filled with household names, such as Mark Ruffalo, Michael Keaton and Rachel McAdams, but the real focus of this film is the story. That is the beauty of it. McCarthy could have easily used the Hollywood cast to produce a film filled with dramatic scenes of shouting and crying. It isn’t. Spotlight is, in fact, a story told slowly. It is told with precision and clarity. It is not rushed. Team this with its bland colour palette of browns, greys and light blue; it is difficult not to feel as though you are watching the story take place before you. Everything about Spotlight, from its dialogue to Masanobu Takayanagi’s cinematography, emits an air of the everyday. Spotlight is a real story about real life. Its focus is the truth and, for that, it does not need a lead actor or special effects.

That being said, the performances in Spotlight are stunning. The downplayed humbleness shown by each member of the main cast is the perfect representation of the journalists and the blame that they personally feel. After all, it took an outsider, the Globe’s new editor, to make them notice the cover-up that was happening underneath their noses. Each revelation is gradual; there are no shocking twists and that adds to the lifelike beauty of the film. There are no overly passionate and dramatic performances typical of many Oscar-contender movies, except perhaps the moving face-off between reporter Mike Rezendes (Ruffalo) and editor Walter ‘Robby’ Robinson (Keaton) that represents the sad truth: the abuse is happening everywhere and to a lot of children.

The sound and music demonstrated in Spotlight is truly spectacular. The dialogue is simple and conversational. Its realism exhibits excellently the unglamorous office life of journalism and the procedural routine of the investigation. McCarthy and Singer are also unafraid of silence, which presents itself during many pivotal moments in the film. The quiet draws attention to the horror of the situation and many of these moments are the most hard-hitting. Sacha Pfeiffer interviewing a victim in a coffee shop is a prime example: just the low sounds of patrons chatting and cups clattering support the victim’s emotional testimony, which is succeeded by haunting, hymn-like music.

Academy Award-winning composer Howard Shore wrote the perfect score. Spotlight’s melancholy soundtrack is reminiscent of crime shows but with evident inspiration from Catholic hymns. Shore’s tracks ‘City on the Hill’ and ‘Delivering the News’ both feature the unsettling sounds of an organ; neither would sound out-of place in a church. An unnerving piano-heavy motif runs throughout the film. This begins in the very first scene: a flashback set in a Boston police station in 1976. The motif acts as a reminder of the crying mother and her two young children sat in an interview room, while the obviously routine cover-up was beginning just outside. The soundtrack fits the story perfectly and provides appropriately thriller-like tones to the horrific events taking place.

You may think that Spotlight is an attack on the church or even of Boston; you would be wrong. The main focus of the film is the power of journalism and the ways in which the media can be used for good. Everything about Spotlight is executed carefully and intricately. This is not a tale that can be told in a light-hearted way; neither should it be so heavy that it is difficult to watch. True stories such as this deserve to be told. Tales of cover-ups and authority figures’ abuse of power deserve to be exposed. Tom McCarthy gave the Spotlight Team, their investigation and its victims the respect they deserved. He gave the story the respect it needed. Spotlight is a touching tale that must be heard. It is a beautiful film that must be watched.

Written by: Abi Davis-Fletcher (Twitter - @abidavisf)