TIFF15 Review // Spotlight

Spotlight is a drama based on the true story of The Boston Globe’s group of investigative team who exposed the Massachusetts Catholic sex abuse scandal in 2001. Rachel McAdams, Mark Ruffalo, Michael Keaton and Brian D’Arcy James, play the group of dedicated journalists who uncover a worldwide phenomenon that was secretly covered up by the Catholic Church for years. Although the publication had ample evidence surrounding systematic child abuse at the hands of Catholic priests, it took a new editor (Liev Schreiber) for the investigation to go full throttle. With an experienced team hungry for the truth, they tracked down 87 victims in the Boston area alone. With no central character in sight, Mark Ruffalo shines by giving another Oscar worthy performance a year after his nomination for Foxcatcher. Spotlight is an important story, one that’s worthy of a feature length treatment and Tom McCarthy’s screenplay offers a well-rounded scope of the investigation.

Capsule Review, Brigitte Truong.