The 2016 Academy Award winning movie Spotlight captures the horrifying truth about the Boston priest scandal. The Boston Globe unfolds the mystery that had been held captive by the Roman Catholic church for 15 years. The story uncovers that former Priest John J. Geoghan had reportedly raped children in 6 different parishes over the last 30 years, and Cardinal Law found this out 15 years later and did nothing about it.
The acting throughout the movie was phenomenal to capture the true emotions and hardships the people went through to uncover the truth. One of the most dramatic and crucial scenes for me was when Michael Rezendes, played by Mark Ruffalo, interviewed the victims from the Geoghan case. It was sickening to hear about the rough lives the children suffered from, and how the priest took advantage of them because they were so vulnerable. The actors playing the victims were incredible with embodying the emotional hardships a victim would undergo after being molested. I had goosebumps throughout many scenes in the movie, but this one really stood out to me.
This film was boring in the beginning when you’re getting introduced to the characters and the setting of the story; however, there were some scenes that were unbelievable and dismal to me. The scene when the journalists uncovered the number of actual priests that were involved was unimaginable in the small town they lived, originally is was thought there were 13 children molested, but it was actually 90 children. It was unbearable to think that children who put all their trust in someone with authority would take advantage of them as young as four. The film conveys a powerful message about how abusive people can be even when they are supposed to be trusted by the entire community.
I would definitely recommend this movie to adults and only children above the age of 13 due to the graphic language and content within the movie. It is a disturbing and educational topic about the cover-ups within the towns beloved church, and shows how children were manipulated by someone who they thought they could trust, their priest. The actors were extremely realistic which helped bring the entire movie together into one big masterpiece. Spotlight is invigorating in many ways and is a must watch this new year.
