Spotlight

Why publicly expose problems in a ministry that does good? Why threaten its ongoing work? These are questions I’ve heard in the course of writing about Christian ministries with problems, financial or otherwise. Spotlight, in limited release Nov. 6, might be a good answer.

The movie follows the investigative team at The Boston Globe that reported on the Catholic Church’s widespread cover-up of priests’ sexual abuse of children. The Globe’s 2001 investigation found 249 priests accused of abuse in the area and reverberated in Catholicism worldwide. Director and writer Tom McCarthy doesn’t display vindictiveness toward Christianity in the film, but he does show the spiritual cost of abuse by church leaders as we see the lost faith of several of the victims.

The screenplay McCarthy wrote with The West Wing writer Josh Singer doesn’t waste a moment. Like a good news article, the movie relentlessly drives its narrative forward while still including rich detail about its characters. One reporter who can’t sleep is working on a horror novel. A pedophilia victim, now grown, nervously sloshes his coffee. Another has needle marks on his arm. The film is rated R for a few curse words and brief descriptions of child abuse. The cast is strong, featuring Michael Keaton, Liev Schreiber, Rachel McAdams, Stanley Tucci, and an especially good Mark Ruffalo.

Self-criticism—or you might say, repentance—can be a rare commodity, even within the church. We are often busier calling others to the mat on social media than looking into our own hearts. Spotlight is a look at our willful blindness to our sins, whether that of a church trying to maintain its stature or a community trying to maintain the status quo.

The movie is a cut above other “journalism thrillers” because the Globe reporters point arrows not just at the Catholic Church but at themselves for their willful blindness. Characters in investigative journalism films tend to say, “This goes all the way to the top.” This excellent film goes all the way to the bottom of our self-serving hearts.