Revisiting “Spotlight”- Now on Netflix
“If it takes a village to raise a child, it takes a village to abuse one.”
This week, Best Picture winner Spotlight (2015) makes its debut on Netflix. It is one of the great investigative journalism films of recent memory, telling the story of the Boston Globe reporters who uncovered the truth about the systemic cover-up of priests molesting children in the Catholic Church.
It is a powerful movie about challenging authority, and confronting truths many wish would stay in the dark because their reality is uncomfortable. Starring Mark Ruffalo, Rachel McAdams, Michael Keaton, Liev Schreiber, John Slattery, Brian d’Arcy James, and Stanley Tucci, Spotlight is a reminder of the bravery it takes to fight for the truth.
I have always appreciated investigative journalism movies. With All the President’s Men (1976) being the gold standard, these films retain the formula of a mystery movie while being rooted in a noble quest for the truth. As these films demonstrate, the enemy of the truth is complacency; people who benefit from the status quo, and will fight to preserve it. When the world is content with looking the other way, it takes courage and determination to force them to turn their head back.
On Incluvie, we have looked at many films that focus on fighting systemic oppression. I have personally gone in depth on how movies such as Selma (2014) and Just Mercy (2019) highlight people taking a stand against what is deemed to be the norm. With Spotlight, we see people taking a similar moral stand, but the system of oppression is different. They are challenging a $30 billion industry in the Catholic Church, deemed by the 2.4 billion Christians of the world to be an all-benevolent institution of God. As a character says in the film, “How do you say ‘no’ to God?”
When so many people in the world can’t even fathom the possibility that the Church could be responsible for such monstrous, disgusting behavior — and the people who are in positions of authority to hold the Church accountable would rather look the other way — how do you win that fight? You win it strategically, methodically, and diligently. You do it by exposing the truth so much so that it becomes impossible to ignore. You do it by proving that no authority is truly infallible.
In addition to winning Best Picture, Spotlight also won an Oscar for its screenplay. Written by Josh Singer and director Tom McCarthy, the script is brilliantly structured to convey an abundance of information to the audience without feeling like a lecture. This could have easily been a very dry movie, but Spotlight is never uninteresting. The dialogue is well written, and the characters are dynamic.
At every turn, different characters will give the main reporters the opportunity to drop the investigation and walk away. As their lives are turned upside down, this proposition becomes more and more enticing. Yet, Spotlight continuously emphasizes the stakes. Rachael McAdams will be leaving a priest’s home, who has admitted to molesting children himself, and will see kids biking down the street. She will be talking to a survivor and they’ll pass a playground right next to a church. The reporters are reminded again and again exactly why they can’t let this go. If they don’t tell this story, who will?
All of the performances in the movie are fantastic, as you would expect from this collection of brilliant actors. Mark Ruffalo and Rachel McAdams were both nominated for their performances, of which they were absolutely deserving. They bring their A-game to this film, delivering emotionally raw and powerful performances. Michael Keaton is also especially good in this film, as his character comes to recognize his own shortcomings while unearthing this story.
There aren’t really any People of Color in prominent roles in this film. However, this film is based on a true story — based on real people. In a situation where a filmmaker is telling a story based on actual people who are all White, how can they best incorporate diversity and representation?
The first question that should be asked is whether this the right story to tell. There are so many true-life films focused on White people out there; does this story really need to be told, or is there a better story involving actual People of Color that could be told instead? In this particular case, this is a story that absolutely should be told. It focuses on survivors of molestation and sexual abuse, who for a very long time were shunned, ignored, and simply not believed. It brings attention to a reality that many people would rather overlook.
So with the validity of the story cemented, the filmmaker must then look at every opportunity they have to incorporate diversity. If the principle characters are White in real life, then they’ll be White in the movie. What other ways then can they show representation? There are an abundance of side and supporting characters, who may or may not be based on actual people; they may be constructs of the writer to keep the story moving. They then can easily be diverse. Spotlight doesn’t utilize these opportunities, as most of these side and supporting characters are White as well.
What filmmakers and people in Hollywood need to do better with is looking for the opportunities to be inclusive. First, evaluate whether the story is worth telling, or if there is a better story out there that highlights a typically unheard voice that could be told instead. Then look for every possibility to have diversity and representation, and seize those opportunities. If the filmmakers shrugs off that responsibility for this movie, it makes it easier for any filmmaker to shrug it off for any movie, and that is how people become underrepresented.
Spotlight is simply a fantastic film. It’s an unrelenting punch right to the gut that reminds us that the fight for what is right is never easy. As long as the right people are leading that fight, then no organization can be above the truth; not even one of the most powerful, influential, and wealthy institutions in the world. With this, the spotlight will always be on those who would rather keep things in the dark.
Sometimes it’s easy to forget that we spend most of our time stumbling around 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, played by Liev Schreiber
Spotlight is now streaming on Netflix.
