[CRITICAL] SPOTLIGHT – Penelopethemovie

SPOTLIGHT is a little movie of the start of this year out of nowhere. A director orders a little known of our radars, the post Birdman for Michael Keaton reinvigorated and a rain of nominations for the upcoming Oscars. Intriguing, all the more that despite the hot topic, based on the terrible elements that have shaken America and the rest of the world, the first returns are near-unanimous, praising a film-investigation exciting. What is it really ?

A film-investigation worthy of the name, released in us in France dates back to the exciting Zodiac for David Fincher, that is to say, a survey based on actual elements and supported by the formal style of his author, with a documentary approach in writing. If Oliver Stone for his immense JFK was leaning very quickly on the thesis of the conspiracy regarding the assassination of president Kennedy, Fincher him on his film about the hunt for the killer of the Zodiac in the same manner in which the investigation is truly stopped. Smothered with time, without satisfactory conclusion, the killer can still be.

SPOTLIGHT, this is the name given to a team of journalists determined to make it burst at the great day of terrible revelations around a group of pedophile priests in the early 2000’s in Boston and its surroundings. A scandal all the more strong that it souillera the image of the Church and will be reflected in the suite in the world, this revelation we are presented as a click.

In addition to the fact of to count in its ranks Mark Ruffalo (whose delivery is simply impressive, the Oscar for the best supporting role is very close), the film from Tom McCarthy also reminds us of the same narrative construction that the Zodiac from Fincher. He is here to reveal in time the way in which this handful of journalists were eventually able to publish a terrible article and this, beyond the many obstacles they faced. The history is right under our eyes, so we know for a fact that the article in question was published, as we knew that the hunt around the killer of the Zodiac had never been completed. But then, why would you want to embark on 2 hours of wandering tattlers for a result that is already known then ?

Because SPOTLIGHT is revealed during these 2h, a film useful and even necessary on a matter of considerable and shocking, which is not forgotten by the cinema.

The first few minutes set the tone : the tempo will be sustained, the frank dialogues and direct will be devoid of fat useless, and the camera folds up to a transparency in order to better identify the actors and build a beautiful efficiency narrative. It is a pleasure to find Michael Keaton , who plays here on the registers of the sobriety and seriousness with great finesse. His team is quickly introduced, and the spectator is ready to work in good and due form with this small family who will not stop to go knocking on the doors of victims, or libraries, scratching on his notepad, and spend shots of the son, and to the detriment of their private life on which we do not we will almost never. At the turn of some of the stories raw, the film becomes captivating and the process of empathy begins an inexorable march of history : regardless of our beliefs, what we have just heard is just vile, and we also do not want as soon as when more than one thing, to see these so-called men of God being punished as he should be.

“SPOTLIGHT is a film that is useful and even necessary on a subject revolting, which is eaten as a thriller.”

In this, SPOTLIGHT works remarkably well in the way it manages to we question and challenge some of our beliefs based on our religious affiliations. The scandal was enormous, the noise seems to be muffled now, but the questions remains, while the scourge continues likely to spread in the silence. A scourge much more difficult to prove, by the place occupied by the Church and its power, ignoring certain laws, a fact that is revolting on which the film insists. The punch lines still echo in our heads coming out of the meeting, as well as cardboard final introducing us to all the countries affected by these heinous acts. During a face-to-face, the character of Michael Keaton speaks on behalf of the viewer, confessing to be kept in silence for too long then he could probably already condemning the poor people in a timely manner. An affair made all the more unworthy and delicate that it is nourished by the silence of everyone, protecting these men of faith today still treated like kings.

Finally, it is to be welcomed, in spite of a music sometimes unnecessarily present, the maturity, craft, and a certain humility with which have been realized SPOTLIGHT, far from a pathos and a discourse pro-American touting heavily the merit of these Yankees journalists via effects pompous and too exaggerated. Nothing like that here, quite the contrary. Like his dialogues brilliant and fists, SPOTLIGHT is devoid of all superfluous and reveals a great investigation-movie that is best enjoyed as a thriller.