A decade and a half ago, the sexual abuse of children by priests in the Boston archdiocese was all but an open secret. Accusations of priests abusing the children in their charge (many of them boys, but some girls as well) date back to the mid-twentieth century or even earlier. However, as disgusting and shocking as these crimes were, there wasn't a large-scale investigation into the culture of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church until fairly recently. The events depicted in Tom McCarthy's unflinching film Spotlight caused the dam to burst, not just in Boston but around the globe.
"Spotlight" is the name of a investigative journalism unit at the Boston Globe newspaper. In the summer of 2001, the team, composed of Michael Rezendes (Mark Ruffalo), Sacha Pfeiffer (Rachel McAdams), Matt Carroll (Brian d'Arcy James), and led by Walter "Robby" Robinson (Michael Keaton), started a project to look into the accusations against a priest named John Geoghan who was accused of molesting vulnerable children in his church. They quickly discovered that the scandal was much more widespread than just one priest and, in fact, had been covered up by Cardinal Bernard Law.
At the urging of Marty Baron (Liev Schreiber), the new editor of the Globe, the Spotlight team engaged in a months-long investigation of the Catholic Church in Boston, ultimately shining a light on abuse perpetrated by as many as 75 priests in the Boston area that was swept under the rug all the way up the Catholic hierarchy to the Archbishop.
Spotlight is an intellectual, methodical film. It focuses primarily on the day-to-day work of the journalists who scoured archives, knocked on doors, and hob-knobbed with Boston's elite to get all the pieces of the puzzle together before delivering the devastating story to Boston's doorstep on January 6th, 2002 (appropriately, the fest of the Epiphany). Along the way, they are told to shut the hell up by a number of people who would rather keep the rampant culture of abuse in the Catholic Church quiet. Church officials, politicians, heads of Catholic schools--all seem to have a vested interest in simply moving pedophile priests from parish to parish instead of removing them completely and actually confronting their crimes head on.
Although the film doesn't linger on the lurid details of the abuse, there is a dark undercurrent of the horrors that the victims endured. One man, the head of a victim's support group, points out that for a poor, Catholic kid, having a priest take an interest in you can be life-changing. It's as if God Himself has taken an interest in you. And how do you say no to "God"? This same character points out when a priest assaults a child, it goes beyond physical abuse--it's also spiritual abuse that can destroy a person's faith for life.
Another victim says explains that he knew he was gay as a kid. When his priest asked him for a blow job, it was the first time someone--and not just "someone", but a priest--told him it was ok to be gay. So he was simultaneously grateful to be seen and understood as a gay person, but confused and sickened by the abuse.
Perhaps the most interesting moment in the film, which is not explored in depth, is when the team talks to Richard Sipe, an ex-priest who left the church (and married a nun!) and dedicated his career to studying sexuality in the church. Sipe points out that his studies indicate that sex abuse among the clergy is shockingly common (he estimates that 6% of priests have abused children), to the point that pedophilia among the clergy is an observable psychological phenomenon. One of his theories is that the celibacy mandate can cripple a person's normal sexual development and outlets, so that abusers are on the emotional level of the children they abuse. I'm definitely not an expert in this and have no idea how accurate these theories are, but it intrigued me to learn more. Here's a link to the book Sipe wrote, which is referenced in Spotlight.
With an all-star ensemble cast, Spotlight is both heart-breaking and heartening. It shows that average people can actually make a difference and stand up to injustice. I also liked the message that sometimes outsiders (like the Jewish, non-Boston native Marty Baron) have to be the ones to overturn the rocks in insular institutions. Certain religious denominations claim to be inclusive, but are often cold--and even hateful--to those outside of their system of belief. But sometimes those who "don't understand" are the ones who can most clearly see the problems within such institutions. Spotlight reminds us that no one--not even men of God--are above doing evil...nor can they get away with it in the end.
Grade: A
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