Within the Catholic Archdiocese of Boston, Massachusetts, and after years of cover-up scandal, child molestation was finally exposed in 2001 by the Boston Globe. The team of reporters was ‘Spotlight’ and they were Mike Rezendes (Mark Ruffalo), Sacha (Rachel McAdams) and Ben Bradlee Jr. (John Slattery). Their editor was Robby Robinson (Michael Keaton) whose performance is authentic Bostonian all the way.
[sidenote: I was raised in Boston Catholic boarding schools with priests and nuns. As an adult I was a writer for Boston and Cape Cod newspapers and personally knew a lot of the people involved in the reporting. As a result, I could watch this film and justify its accuracy.]
The headlines of the day were stories like the ‘big dig’ and Pedro Martinez having his best season with the ‘Sox.’ So when a tip off from a buried story surfaces, Mike contacts Mitch Garabedian (Stanley Tucci) a lawyer who represented the assumed molested kids, and claims that Cardinal Law had the documents sealed. The story moves into fast journalist lingo, building a narrative to run-with-the-story all the while waiting for a motion to overturn the sealed documents. More victims come forward (great acting collectively by local actors portraying now-adult Catholic school boys.) Apparently guilt and shame kept them quiet, not to mention a Priest represents God, and as a Priest ‘grooms’ a child to be what he wants, so how do you say ‘no’ to God? How does a Policeman cuff a Priest?
As more and more clergy are exposed, it seems the simple answer is that Priests are men first, and should be allowed to marry.