Movie: Spotlight

Release Date: November 6, 2015

Director: Tom McCarthy

Starring: Mark Ruffalo, Michael Keaton, Rachel McAdams, Liev Schreiber, John Slattery, Stanley Tucci

Personal History: Watched Before

Rating: 9 Oscars out of 10

Released in late 2015, ‘Spotlight’ was critically acclaimed and instantly named one of the best films of that year. It received numerous industry accolades including six Academy Award nominations. It went on to win two Oscars for Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay. To this day the film is universally acclaimed by critics for its graceful handling of a difficult story as well as its historical accuracy.

Regardless of the praise the film was getting from critics, I was excited to see the movie from the moment I saw its trailer. It seemed like a compelling film and a story that I hold to the utmost importance.

Born and raised strict Catholic, I spent a little over eighteen years heavily involved in the church. From altar boy to choir and folk group member to youth group member, I spent a lot of time around priests, nuns and other God-fearing people. As a small child, I said my prayers and believed what I was taught. At one point I would even tell people I wanted to become a priest. As I grew into my teenage years though it became more of a social gathering than a practice of faith.

By the time I was graduating high school, I was a non-believer and only went to church on Sundays to see my friends and more importantly because my mother made me. My mom was not an overly religious person, but she was strict when it came to church. We had to go. No discussion. End of topic. So I did.

After a few years at college, in my early twenties, I stopped going to church altogether to my mother’s chagrin. We argued quite a bit about that topic during those couple of years, but I held my ground. You can’t make an individual believe in something he doesn’t believe in. Faith can’t be forced. Eventually we agreed to disagree and moved on from the topic.

As years passed, my mom and I came to a strong understanding about religion and the Catholic Church. She finally understood where I was coming from and lightened up her animosity towards my lack of spirituality. In turn, I understood that she believed the way she did because it gave her peace of mind and made her a better human being. One can’t argue with that. She went to church and prayed for me and we were able to joke and laugh about it over the last twenty plus years of her life.

Now I consider myself an atheist. I do not have any faith of an afterlife or god-like creature that we will all sit around with at a table drinking wine when we die. What I focus on instead is living my earthly life as best I can and just to try love, be kind and, like my mom, become a better human being.

Let me say this to be clear, I do not judge or care what anyone’s faith or religion is. Whether you are Catholic or Methodist or Presbyterian, it really makes no difference to me. Believe what you want and if, again like my mother, it makes you a better human being, believe the hell out of it (pun intended). However, it is my experience that most religious people are not necessarily better human beings.

As a gay man who had difficulty coming out partly due to his strict religious upbringing, I do hold some negative feelings towards the Catholic Church. How can I not? One of those ill feelings is regarding the sex abuse scandal by priests. It is a bitter pill for me to swallow. I always joke I should wear a shirt that says “I survived the Catholic Church without being molested.” I know it’s not funny as I was one of the lucky ones. So many men and women could not honestly wear that shirt. And that still to this day infuriates me. It always will.

‘Spotlight’ handles this topic which such delicacy, grace and impeccable storytelling. The film is so well-crafted from its directing to the strong acting ensemble. Everyone from Mark Ruffalo to Michael Keaton to Rachel McAdams are simply superb. They each have their moments that make the audience laugh and then cry. It is one of the best acting ensembles in the last ten years.

‘Spotlight’ is a film that should be seen by everyone. It honors the victims and places blame on all of the right people, coincidentally not just the church. Although, let’s face it, the church is the real villain in this film. Oddly enough, the Catholic Church did not ban or ridicule the film, like they do so many other things. One quote I read from the church regarding it said:

“The media’s investigative reporting on the abuse crisis instigated a call for the Church to take responsibility for its failings and to reform itself—to deal with what was shameful and hidden.”

That is something even I have to applaud, although you will not find me in any church or at any altar for the rest of my life, unless of course it worships Madonna. Some people believe in God, I believe in Madonna.