If you have never seen the episode I'm talking about, just know that it is easily the most offensive thing I have ever seen on television, and this includes the Boondocks episode where white people found a way to legalize slavery in the form of a theme park. Sadly though, I am ashamed to admit that I was literally crying from laughter as I watched both and that there is no way I should be allowed around children or even Black people at this point! I have lost the privilege. (For those who are new to this site, I am a Black male and I like adult women; these are just jokes...although I really was laughing when I saw those shows)
Anyway, I am sure that everyone remembers where they were when the story first broke in The Boston Globe about the 90 plus counts of sexual abuse by Catholic priests in the Boston area; and how the Archdiocese knew about it and covered it up. I happened to actually be in Boston visiting my girlfriend at the time and let's just say that the city as a whole was in shock. Everyone was walking around like zombies; so much so that they didn't even care that a Black man was gallivanting around town with a cute Irish white girl on his arm.
Normally in that city, this type of behavior would warrant one or two bottles being thrown at your head; unless of course your name is Big Papi. But on this day I was given a free pass as interracial relationships took a clear back seat to intergenerational abuse! How could this happen? Why did it happen? What does this say about our core beliefs or how we approach them?
These were the questions that were going through everyone's mind at the time. And these were also the same questions that kept popping up throughout the gripping tale of this story's discovery in Spotlight.
Spotlight was the investigative section of the Globe that usually dealt with shady construction sites or random cases of police corruption in the city. They were good but they seemed to have lost their fire for finding the truly game changing stories that were out there. That was until their new editor Marty Baron (Liev Schreiber) comes in and lights a fire under them. Because every one of them grew up in a predominantly Catholic environment, they all subconsciously ignored the numerous reports and attempts to expose these vile individuals for who they really were. But now that a new set of eyes were on the story, they see that everything they ever needed was right before them.
Director Tom McCarthy does an excellent job of keeping both the discovery of the story and the fact finding behind it moving at a fast pace, because he thankfully realized that no one wants to sit through three hours of reporters running into dead ends. He also pulled no punches in describing what happened to these poor kids while they were under the care of these priests nor does he utilize any histrionics to emphasize his narrative.
The story itself is horrific enough as you see the toll these events had on the victims and everyone associated with them. The movie shows you just how important the church is to the daily lives and to the general psyche of everyone in the city but it also shows just how far people will go to keep the institution in tact. It truly is a challenging movie to watch at times as you can't help but see both the good and the bad that will come with the revelation of this story.
I realize that it may seem as though this story has been covered ad nauseam at this point but there is still plenty that took place that you may not have been aware of before. I rate this movie as very FRESH and I suggest that you go see it. Who knew that the director of that awful Adam Sandler movie The Cobbler could actually pull this off? Also as a side note, expect an Oscar nomination for Mark Ruffalo. I can't stand that guy but he was actually fairly decent in this film.
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