The highly acclaimed new film, Spotlight, recounts the controversial true story of the “Spotlight” team of investigative reporters from the Boston Globe, who uncovered the clergy sex abuse crisis in 2002.
The duration of the film is focused on one case specifically, of former priest John J. Geoghan, as it pertained to the greater Boston area, where the story was written. At the time this article was written, more than 130 people had come forward since the mid-1990’s with brutal stories of their sexual abuse and molestation by Geoghan, as he continued to be circulated and moved throughout different parishes, located in Saugus, Concord, Hingham, Jamaica Plain, Dorchester, and Weston.
The investigation of this case, and the interviews conducted by the Spotlight team to break this one story, led to the reveal of an issue far greater than one priest, and rocked the Catholic Church and the Vatican as a whole. As more victims continued to come forward and share their stories and heartache, more priests were exposed under similar accusations... the way to resolve the issue continuing to be the removal of a priest from one parish, and the reassignment of them to another.
This movie captures the complete transformative power that journalism has in society, and the importance of the written word within the context of the world as a whole, our city of Boston, and our very own RMHS.
The movie follows Spotlight reporters Michael Rezendes, Sacha Pfeiffer, Matt Carroll, and Walter “Robby” Robinson, and their investigations and interviews as they continued to unearth stories from the victims of Geoghan, amongst multitudes of other priests facing similar allegations. In an interview with NPR, Robinson stated that the Spotlight team ultimately uncovered almost 250 priests who had molested children over a timespan of several decades.
The actors onscreen truly conveyed the intensity and drive that the reporters had regarding that story specifically, and the passion that they have for storytelling and reporting as a whole. I truly believe that every actor and actress did a remarkable job portraying the grit required in order to successfully pursue a story, and the reality of the extreme hard work behind investigations.
An aspect to the screenplay of this story which truly sets it apart from other movie adaptations of true stories which I have seen before, is the purely emotional, human side to each character. The movie truly depicts the emotional toll that the investigation took on the reporters, and how completely disturbing and devastating the cases were.
Rezendes (played by Mark Ruffalo) grapples with his Catholic upbringing as a child and what that means for him in the present.
Pfeiffer (played by Rachel McAdams) struggles to tell her unwaveringly Catholic Nana about the terrible things happening below the surface of her beloved Church.
Carroll (played by Brian d’Arcy James) is deeply unsteady when he discovers that a facility for treating pedophilic priests is located in his neighborhood.
Robinson (played by Michael Keaton) is caught in a loyalty battle, as a graduate of Boston College High School, a Catholic school, and is deeply affected personally when his priest at the high school, Reverend James Talbot, is convicted of repeated sexual abuse of students.
The ways in which every reporter was acutely affected by the crisis truly evokes not only a sense of sympathy for the victims and the reporters dealing head-on with these barbaric stories, but empathy. As an audience member, I could actually understand on an intrinsic level the destruction that these events caused, because of the vulnerability and rawness of every actor’s portrayal of these real people, with real emotions and reactions.
Similarly, the audience felt this personal, emotional connection to the crisis displayed in the film as well. As the closing credits began to roll down the screen and the lights came up, the blank stares of hundreds of elderly people were unveiled before me. I witnessed women shaking in their seats, their husbands rocking beside them, eyes staring ahead in disbelief. I watched the phrase “the truth hurts,” manifest right before my eyes, as the virtue of their childhood seemed to crumble before theirs.
Everything they held so dear, everything they were taught, everything they knew, was eternally marred.
The quality of the movie that affixes this unimaginable situation to our school culture and life is through journalism, and its connection to our very own Orbit. This movie shows the imperativity of journalism, and the key role that the press plays in our society today. Whether it be breaking hard news about our greater world, or simply telling the tale of a sporting event at RMHS, human experience demands to be shared and experienced.
Journalism has the capability to bring issues to light that would otherwise have continued to stay festering and continuing in vicious cycles, unbeknownst to the public. Where there is journalism, there is freedom. Within The Orbit, we strive to continue maintaining this legacy of honesty and forthrightness in the scope of our own high school.
