Rating of
3/4
A dead serious film with a dead serious topic
ikkegoemikke - wrote on 07/18/16
"They knew and they let it happen! It could've been you, it could've been me, it could've been any of us."
After watching "Concussion", I wondered how former NFL players would react to this film. After seeing "Spotlight", I asked myself whether the clergy had the courage to see this film or not. And also if lessons were drawn from this. Would the Church restore his original role in society? A haven for believers. Its function as middleman between the divine and the Christians. An institution created as a service for the needy, poor and pious. Or would abuses such as addressed in "Spotlight" simply continue to exist? Because lets admit it. The credits at the end of the film are more horrible than the actual film. It shows that the cited case is only a tip of the iceberg.
What's more frightening? Being pursued by a deranged maniac who's wearing a hockey mask and carries a chainsaw? Or being abused by a perverted priest who can't restrain his lust because of a self-imposed celibacy? Perhaps the first is extremely deadly. But the second one causes such a trauma, the victim wishes to encounter such a nut with a chainsaw to release him from his suffering. The things I thoroughly hate are abuse of power, inviolability, breach of trust and covering up criminal offenses by powerful authorities. And that's something common within the church. A little bit too much fooling around with little choirboys? No problem. We'll put you in another parish where you can play shepherd again and watch over some tame sheep. Disgusting.
"Spotlight" reminded me of "All the President's Men" with a young Dustin Hoffman and Robert Redford playing Carl Bernstein's and Bob Woodward, two Washington Post journalists who published articles about the Watergate scandal. Also a cover-up. But this one happened on a political level. The only result there was the resignation of president Nixon. The ecclesiastical cover-up made lots of victims. "Spotlight" is a dead serious film with a dead serious, nauseating topic. It's admirable that they didn't let it degenerate into an accusatory film that would unleash a veritable witch-hunt. Needless to say, the main roles are played impressively by Michael Keaton, Mark Ruffalo, Rachel McAdams and Liev Schreiber. And for once, I was hoping that Ruffalo would briefly change into that green, muscular monster so he would crush a few clerics to the size of a of a host.
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