The winner for Best Picture at the 88th Academy Awards went to a film centered on a team of investigative journalists from The Boston Globe. In 2001, the team known as Spotlight, for whom the movie is named, took on the task of exposing the Catholic Church for the rampant sexual abuse of children committed by hundreds of priests in and around the Boston area, as well as the concerted effort made by the Church in covering up the abuse.
The film does a fantastic job of giving the audience a peak into the lives of investigative journalists, who go to great lengths to uncover the crimes and corruption of organizations and individuals in power. The stress and mental toll that investigating crimes of this nature causes journalists is highlighted throughout the film; from the interviews of abuse victims, late nights and weekends, tumultuous personal lives, as well as the arduous task of collecting information from sources that want to prevent the stories from being told.
When the team ultimately acquires the information they need to run the story, Marty Baron, played by Liev Schreiber says, "Sometimes it's easy to forget that we spend most of our time stumbling around the dark. Suddenly, a light gets turned on and there's a fair share of blame to go around. I can't speak to what happened before I arrived, but all of you have done some very good reporting here. Reporting that I believe is going to have an immediate and considerable impact on our readers. For me, this kind of story is why we do this." It is made clear at the end of the film that Marty is indeed correct. The final lines that appear on screen before the credits roll read, "Over the course of 2002, the Spotlight team published close to 600 stories about the scandal. 249 priests and brothers were publicly accused of sexual abuse within the Boston Archdiocese. The number of survivors in Boston is estimated to be well over 1,000." Spotlight teaches us that investigative journalism can be an incredibly powerful tool in shedding light on the darkness in the world.
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