Spotlight

Saw Spotlight, a fairly gripping procedural following The Boston globe journalists who broke the story of the Catholic church pedophilia coverup scandal.  The film is thankfully spares us reenactments or hostile parents and centers squarely on the journalists involved.  We meet a few victims, but they are all adults and we talk to their lawyers much more than to them.  The film is understated but still quite powerful.  It's got only a few blow-out scenes where characters yell and stomp around, but the film is still built big.  There's a scene where an old woman just asks for a glass of water and it's such an emotional little moment.

Although the film is dramatic, it's a drama of the back rooms.  Most of the film takes place in the cold-looking basement offices of the reporters.  We follow them as they talk to lawyers and investigate leads, uncovering more and more and playing a game against the clock lest some other newspaper run the story, butcher it, and blow the headlines early.  Much of the film is shot like a police procedural, getting deep into the weeds of public record and butting up against the insidious wall of silence of Bostonian officials who acknowledge that the church has done wrong, but hasten to point out that it's done a lot of good too!

The film is very satisfying.  Although the sex abuse scandal is ongoing, we know how it ends: with giant headlines and a shocked populace.  The film won the Best Picture Oscar and it's not hard to guess why: the film tackles big issues in a reassuring way.  It's unchallenging unless you have great respect or sympathy for the church officials.  There's broader observations to make about the systemic nature of these things (which, the film points out, have been going on since the 80s and possibly earlier than that) but the center-stage story is about the journalists taking down the smug, august, abuse-enabling church.  In scenes where they interview victims, gigantic churches loom in the background, dwarfing our struggling heroes.  But we know they'll win!

Another element which is definitely in the wings but also definitely present is the internet.  The journalists have computers but they never google anything.  They have flip-phones, but also land-lines.  Since the film is set in 2003, this was the very tail end of the pre-internet world.  The investigation into the church is spurred by a need for increased readership, but we know that soon internet news sites of dubious quality would be a much bigger source of trouble.  Indeed, the institution of the newspaper is necessary to support the deep-dive, investigative journalism on display here.  An ad for AOL looms ominously over the Globe headquarters.  This is all in the background however it was fun for me to think about.

I enjoyed the film - although it's mostly shot at news desks and in anonymous-looking meeting rooms, there's a driving and ramping intensity to it.  Incongruously, sometimes weeks go by between the cuts, but then Mark Ruffalo is running between cars, desperate to catch a cab and bring the vital evidence into the office.  It builds to a series of quiet but surprisingly emotional climaxes.  It's a good watch.