When a pedophile Boston Catholic priest comes into the light, the Boston Globe’s Spotlight team is on the case in the 2015 Academy Award winning film “Spotlight”. The scandal didn’t stop with one priest, however. In this film based on a true story, you’re given a sneak peek behind the scenes of the newspaper as four reporters dig deeply into a case that would unearth corruption in the highest parts of the Catholic Church system.
How is it then that such a scandal could be hidden for so many decades? Reporters Matt Carrol (Brian d’Arcy James), Sacha Pfeiffer (Rachel McAdams), Michael Rezendes (Mark Ruffalo) and editor Walter V. Robinson (Michael Keaton) dig deeply into the story to find out why. The investigation of one priest turns into an investigation of nearly 90 priests in Boston who are accused of sexually abusing children through the decades. “They say it’s just physical abuse, but it’s more than that; this was spiritual abuse. You know why I went along with everything? Because priests are supposed to be the good guys,” Peter Conellos, one of the survivors, said.
For many years, the scandal was swept under the rug by the church, who frightened the victims, their family and the community into keeping the matter hushed up. The impression left on these children, however, haunted them forever.
The impact the Spotlight reporters made on their community and beyond proved that all it takes is passion, perseverance and a good support system to find hope in humanity once again.
It wasn’t just a good story they took on but it was also the chance to do what was right. It gave the silenced victims a voice. For the first time ever, the survivors found the courage to step forward.
In fact, there was an even an 87-year-old man from Millinocket, Maine, who felt that he could come forward for the first time after 75 years. He had been abused in 1926 at the age of 12 and had not told anybody what had happened until January of 2002 when he called Spotlight. It was Pfeiffer who answered the call.
The film will not only keep you on your toes from the start, but you’ll also likely experience the anger and sadness portrayed by all of the victims as they told their stories one by one. As the story progresses, you watch all the reporters’ personal lives become affected by the investigation. They each learn where their principles truly lie—in doing what is right for all, even if it means sacrificing other parts of their lives. They learned that no matter how many roadblocks obstructed their path, they just had to find a way around them.
“Sometimes it’s easy to forget that we spend most of our time stumbling around in the dark. Suddenly, a light gets turned on and there’s a fair share of blame to go around. I can’t speak to what happened before I arrived, but all of you have done some very good reporting here. Reporting that I believe is going to have an immediate and considerable impact on our readers. For me, this kind of story is why we do this,” Marty Baron, Boston Globe managing editor, said.
“Spotlight” brings forward the important subject of people being too afraid to tell their stories for fear of repercussions emotionally, mentally or physically. This film showed that it’s OK to step forward and tell your story to lift a burden once and for all.
