Spotlight movie review

First of all a big pat and applause to Team "SPOTLIGHT" for the courage and boldness shown in the theme they have chosen. It has and had every chance to go controversial. A powerful and hard hitting drama, Spotlight nominated for this year's Academy Awards for best picture along with a few more nominations is intense and shocking as the scandal is brought to public knowledge.
The film has the Spotlight team of the Boston Globe Newspaper wing investigating and uncovering widespread cases of child molestation and sexual abuses done by Roman Catholic Priests.
Starting with the case of a single priest, story becomes all the more alarming once it is found that close to 100 priests were involved, the victim's number is close to 250 and the Church is well aware of this who were trying to cover up the whole thing.
Its the manner in which the drama is presented without making any compromises on the actual facts that catches your eye after watching the film. Also the way in which the investigation is done in a realistic manner without giving a heroic attention to the journalists made the plot look closer to truth and reality.
At the same time, one should also understand that the subject is very sensitive and hence the presentation needs to be extra careful so that it doesn't run out of your hands and out of control. On that aspect, I should say director Tom Mccarthy has been successful here and Spotlight never at any point gave a feel of a baggage of misrepresented facts.
Of course there would be controversies and lot of discussions on it as the topic here is a hot one but those things cannot question or put a dark shadow on the success of this film as an investigative drama. So far post release, I haven't heard anything of that sort.
There are some powerful acting performances too that makes Spotlight a compelling watch. The entire Spotlight team of Boston Globe right from the top to the investigating group led from the front to make it a powerful and intense one. Pick of the lot is Mark Ruffalo, Rachel McAdams and Michael Keaton. The former two who have been nominated for the best supporting actor and actress respectively at the Oscars. The supporting casts also contributed from their side to make Spotlight one of the best movie of recent times.
Overall, I should say this is a special film that deals with a controversial/sensitive subject with utmost ease and care without allowing the controversy blow out of proportion. The screenplay including dialogues though heavy along with rock solid performances and perfect direction makes this one a must watch film.
My rating is four out of five and a thumbs up to the entire team of Spotlight. Being a frontrunner, it shouldn't be a surprise if the film wins few Academy Awards which is to be announced later this month.
Rating - 4 / 5