04 February 2016
Spotlight
A film by Tom McCarthy
Reviewed by Adam McCormack
“All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing”. Edmund Burke’s views in the eighteenth century are just as apposite now, and ring especially true when looking at the Boston Globe’s investigation into the sexual assault allegations regarding the Catholic church. Quite often we are amazed when long-term cycles of abuse are uncovered, but what is most striking here is how many people knew of the situation and the extent to which it had been partially reported upon for many years. The size of the catholic population in Boston, together with a general discomfort over reporting allegations against an institution as sacrosanct as the church meant the prevalence of abuse over a period of decades. Whether it be the police, the press or the senior bodies within the church itself, no-one seemed prepared to make public the systemic and widespread abuse that prevailed, even though individual cases did come to light and were, half-heartedly, pursued. Priests who were found to be engaging in sexual abuse were often merely moved from one area to another to avoid the negative publicity that would go with proper prosecution.
This then was a story that needed to be told and a film that had to be made. Tom McCarthy has achieved the desired effect of demonstrating both how widespread was the abuse and how many areas of society did not have the stomach to take measures to stop it. He also makes it painfully clear how such endemic attitudes make it both much harder, and apparently futile, for the victims to come forward. The early part of the film is something of a slow-burner, but the confusion which comes with seeing that so many were aware of some level of abuse, but nothing was being done about it, is a key part of the message.
With such a big story and so many important characters, we do not get as much depth to the individuals as we might like in the 2hr time slot, but the performances of Michael Keaton, Stanley Tucci, and especially Mark Ruffalo are impressive. Perhaps the most poignant acting comes from Rachel McAdams (she has come a long way since Mean Girls), as a reporter whose bond with her grandmother is threatened by her inability to be comfortable in continuing to go to church with her. The scene in which her grandmother read the major exposive article is difficult to watch, but says a lot about the issues that many faithful worshipers finally had to address.
The final frames of the film detail other areas where abuse has been found to be taking place, both in the US and the rest of the world. It is a very long list, but one must be clear that this was not just the province of the Catholic Church. I grew up less than a mile form The Beeches children’s home where Frank Beck, and it seems Greville Janner, engaged in the abuse of children. When the details of Beck’s and Janner’s crimes were exposed, so many said that they had known about this for many years – yet again a case of good men doing nothing. ****
