Spotlight

Finally got the chance to see the Academy Award winner for Best Picture; Spotlight. It’s a terrific screenplay that interestingly looks at the perspective of a team of journalists. Yet it is thrilling, compelling and quite riveting with characters having that relentless energy to cover a story with some journalistic passion to create an impact beyond mere circulation.

It is the story of the investigation done by The Boston Globe’s collective investigation journalists’ team called Spotlight team. They get a lead on a really sensitive case of child abuse in which priests are involved. With the encouragement from the newly appointed editor Marty Baron, the team decides to go after the sensitive case to sue the Church. How they did it is what this movie narrating.

One aspect I liked about this gripping story is that how they focused more on the investigative journalism part. You don’t get to see the “villains” very often in this movie. Their spokespersons and some glimpses of the particular characters were only shown in this movie. The beauty is in the fact that it focused on the investigative journalism part and still managed to make it fully intriguing and very detailed, crisscrossing every question that would come across our mind. And it’s not a documentary for sure. With the caste including Michael Keaton, Mark Ruffalo, Rachel McAdams and a few more delivering a really mature performance you feel the angst while watching this movie.

Tom MacCarthy has wonderfully recreated the atmosphere of the investigation. It is slow paced and there is nothing miraculous happening as the story unravels. But we get to see that more personal side, disappointment and tension the team had to undergo and that really gives a peculiar identity to this movie. It is not in the format of a typical thriller, but as a viewer I felt it was quite absorbing when they revealed all those shocking facts through many sensible scenes. The writing deserves a special mention for creating that gripping feel by placing the relevant portions accordingly. Some really good dialogues were there which sort of questioned the sort of ignorance media showed till that point. The cinematography already grabbed a lot of acclaim for setting frames that sort of conveyed the idea they wanted to put forward. Editing was really impressive as it created an enthusiasm in the proceedings.

Michael Keaton was terrific in being Walter Robinson. The kind of ease he shows definitely shows the maturity of the journalist. Mark Ruffalo transforms impressively in to Michael Rezendes with his hands always inside the pant pockets and asking questions in a less sensitive way. Rachel McAdams as the slightly caring and disturbed Sacha Pfeiffer was also really good. Stanley Tucci as that advocate was also quite impressive. Live Schreiber, John Slattery and Brian d’Arcy James looked very much perfect for the characters assigned to them.

In these days where media is under the influence of politics and religion, Spotlight is a movie that we should all watch. It shows the courage of a team of sincere journalists to go against a system that had mighty power across the globe. It is one of those rare movies where you experience the thrill without seeing much of the “conventional” thriller factors on screen.