After its Toronto screening, "Spotlight" seemed to be on its way to receiving more awards in the Oscars this year as reported by Variety. The well-received film has earned raves and high praises at the Venice Film Festival and has swiftly emerged as an Oscar favourite at the festival.
Spotlight may be missing some star quality of other films vying for the Oscar this year, but its modesty works in its favour. According to Mashable, "Not since All the President's Men has the act of journalism been so accurately and breathtakingly depicted, and with the stakes on high."
The Boston Globe's Pulitzer Prize-winning investigation has spent months unveiling a systematic abuse cover-up that stretched from the streets of Boston all the way to the Vatican. What the small team of Globe reporters achieved is already a wonder in itself especially when the target is as powerful as the Catholic Church. But to adapt that into a movie which is exciting to watch is truly a marvel.
In July 2001, Marty Baron became the editor of the Boston Globe and tasked Spotlight, the paper's investigative team, to look into Catholic priests sexually abusing minors. Initially, it appears that the abuse were few and scattered however as they delved deeper, they realize that the abuse and cover-up were done systematically. The movie may not be glamorous however McCarthy was able to make the movie compelling and clearly shows great respect to Spotlight's work and their audience.
The film features a true ensemble, and while Baron helps to set off the chain of events, the main players are Spotlight editor Walter "Robby" Robinson (Michael Keaton) and reporters Michael Rezendes (Mark Ruffalo), Sacha Pfeiffer (Rachel McAdams), and Matt Carroll (Brian d'Arcy James), and they all lead to other important figures like attorneys Mitchell Garabedian (Stanley Tucci) and Eric MacLeish (Billy Crudup).
Vanity Fair only has high praises for the film, "Though the film ends with some startling, deeply troubling text that details just how terrifyingly widespread the priest sex abuse problem is, it's hard not to leave the theater feeling uplifted. Spotlight is just so satisfying-a deftly, wisely built movie about people doing work on that same level of ultra-competence-that I think it will prove hard to resist for Academy voters. "
