Directed by: Tom McCarthy

Oscar Awards: 2016 Best Motion Picture of the Year & Best Writing, Original Screenplay

Based on a true story, “Spotlight” reveals the difficulties experienced by an investigative team, in which the members attempt to keep their stories confidential until they officially disclose them to the public. “Spotlight” exposes the cautious mindsets of the journalists as they are attentive to even the most minor facts, especially while working on sensitive subjects. This movie focuses on one such story the journalists were shining a spotlight on: a story about dozens of priests who had molested young, innocent children. The Boston Globe, a news source upon the events of Massachusetts, went straight to work on going through all the evidence they can find, which will support their thoughts on the ignored accidents and sexual abuses committed by certain priests.

This screenplay is structured in a typical way any other movie would be structured, in an omniscient perspective where most of the characters own an opinion and the audience can view all of such. “Spotlight” includes several flashbacks as the characters encounter several moments they have to look back upon from the past. Especially because the movie was based upon an investigative team, as the examination of the case grew deeper, the characters referred back to the past facts or relatable topics. 

Yet, the fact that the movie drags on for too long is bothering. Most movies truly grab the audience’s attention through the fast-paced plot and structure. Because a story is fast-paced, doesn’t necessarily mean the scene is full of action. Rather, this means the story takes place over a significant amount of time to portray the main conflict and intense climax. However, this movie (despite its strong screenplay) continues to keep delaying the result of the case and the story seems to grow tedious on several points/moments. The time period is comparably short from other movie plot lines. This caused the audience to slowly loosen the nervousness they held as the scenes may even appear repetitive. 

One imperfection was the lack of characteristics/personalities in each character. Although each character did hold some type of realistic feature through the ways they spoke, or perhaps the way they expressed their emotions about the case of molested children, I there wasn’t enough background developed upon each individual. There wasn’t much revealed and even so, the personal background was spoken too directly, and not quite naturally. In other words, rather than slowly building the character, the experiences of a character would be disclosed in a minute or two, and then be forgotten. To further explain, the dialogue spoken by some characters seem to be stronger than others since most of the quotes I took notice on were spoken mainly by one or few other characters. 

Further, I would’ve enjoyed this movie more if the interviewed victims expressed more personal emotions and specified on what exactly happened. This is because I really did feel some specific interviews were interesting such as the one with Phil Saviano. In Saviano’s speech that appeared once throughout the movie, there were several different phrases and quotes that forced the audience to empathize. His dialogue was built in and detailed, despite the fact that he was a minor character. If there were more of these dialogues and interviews that were extremely emotional, the audience could’ve empathized more easily. 

Additionally, more of the impactful words should probably have been spoken by the main characters, not the minor ones like Phil Saviano. Although minor characters may leave a positive impression on some people, major characters are truly the ones who should be bringing out the emotions. This is because according to other screenplay analysis sources, one of the essential aspects of a screenplay include at least one unforgettable character that is established. In a screenplay, the best way to build a memorable character is through dialogue. 

The story often received criticism because it wasn’t similar at all to the actual story. Controversy has been raised due to the closed truth of which events were true, and whether the movie was reliable or not. Some people debated the characters were depicted in an entirely different way, while others stated the plot was messed up. If more realistic elements were added, the movie could’ve been perceived in a more positive manner and may have received less criticism. This is for the reason that nobody can refute facts that exist and if the story assembled proper facts, nobody would have complained on how “real” the story was. 

Two of the quotes I found interesting and would like to touch upon are the priest’s claim of “You see knowledge is one thing, faith…faith is another” and the victims statement of “When a priest does this to you, he robs you of your faith”. These quotes really influenced me because of ironic contradiction. The two monologues were stated in different situations; however, if the audience was able to match the puzzle pieces together, they could’ve foreshadowed and predicted how the children were victimized. 

Another quote I found eye-catching was “And I don’t mean prayed for, I mean preyed upon.” This one caught my attention because of the play of words that wasn’t meant for humor, but allowed the audience to understand the seriousness of the case. Most of the time, word play is utilized for either a comical aspect or an entirely solemn subject. In this case, a grim mood is established, also allowing the audience to empathize. 

In conclusion, “Spotlight” is constructed of both positive and negative aspects as a screenplay. It is true the movie has won the 2016 Best Motion Picture of the Year & Best Writing, and Original Screenplay Oscar Awards, along with other awards; however, the screenplay does include several flaws, which may have been the causes of dullness. The movie is extremely original, and creative, as these types of investigation movies are not always successful. On the other hand, due to the compelling plot line and well-defined events, “Spotlight” seems to have truly shined in the spotlight.