Spotlight

At the time of writing the bookies have this one marked down as favourite for the best picture Oscar and I wouldn’t argue with that. It’s the absorbing and essentially true account of how a team of investigative reporters on the Boston Globe took on and defeated the Roman Catholic hierarchy in Massachusetts.

The story begins in 2001 with the Globe’s appointment of a new and, unusually, non-Catholic – in fact Jewish – editor, Martin Baron (Liev Schreiber). And he discovers a brief article in the paper concerning a paedophile priest whose activities, according to a lawyer, were known to and ignored by Cardinal Bernard Law (Len Cariou), the head of the Boston Archdiocese.

Baron then tells the Spotlight investigative team, headed by Michael Keaton, to look into the matter. This is a team that takes its work seriously and can and does spend up to eight months on one story.

At first Keaton and his squad, consisting of Mark Ruffalo, Rachel McAdams and Brian d’Arcy James, believe they are simply investigating one guilty priest. But as they dig deeper they realise that there is not just one, nor even 10, but literally scores of paedophile priests operating in the Boston area.

The film, strongly and unflashily directed by Tom McCarthy and written by him and Josh Singer, does not purport to be a thriller but in fact becomes one. Because as Keaton and company uncover ever more horrifying facts they and their editor come under increasing pressure from the church and its lawyers to drop the investigation.

There’s one nicely played scene in which the Cardinal tells Baron that ‘the city flourishes when its great institutions work together’, a subtle suggestion that the Globe should join the club and shut up.

Which, in fact, is exactly what had happened some years earlier when the paper was given a list of abusive priests and did nothing about it.

This time, however, Keaton and the squad carry on, their work briefly interrupted by the events of 9/11, although all of them come from Catholic backgrounds and have doubts about what they’re doing.

It’s a story very well told in a pleasingly straightforward manner. It avoids sensationalism because, after all, the facts the reporters uncover are sensational and horrific enough. And for once the journalists are presented not, as is so often the case, as hard-boiled, wisecracking cynics but as decent hard-working professionals.

The performances are convincing throughout and the film’s six Oscar nominations include deserved nods for Ruffalo and McAdams as, respectively, best supporting actor and best supporting actress.

What the Spotlight team uncovered in their exhaustive investigation, proving that the Cardinal and many other people knew what was going on and chose to protect the guilty rather than the victims, had repercussions not just in Boston but throughout the Roman Catholic Church.

That being so, this could be one movie that might even persuade the disgruntled members of Hacked Off that there’s much to be said for a free press.