An excellent docu-drama about the initial uncovering of decades-long Catholic priest child abuse and subsequent concealment that opened the floodgates to the thousands of cases worldwide that are now a part of the general consciousness. The most powerful element was post credits when the screen filled there time with the names of places, worldwide where there were or had been ongoing abuse...there must have been 350+ at least.
Such dramas can fall into something of a series of dramatic cliches...the heroic reporters who fight against their superiors and powerful outside forces, who have setbacks, whose personal lives suffer but who in the end have Done the Right Thing and are triumphant.
This however, although it necessarily had elements of all of the did focus very firmly on the case and the gradual realisation that it was not just a few local situations but an endemic and upper-Catholic-hierarchy-cover-up. The personal lives were secondary although there was enough to help us see the reporters as real people who did not live their lives in work isolation. Support from their superiors was welcomely strong but this was presumably a reflection of the actual reality.
Performances were effectively self-effacing and thee was a very effective conveying of the strength of the Spotlight investigative team.
A fine and powerful film that is a welcome reminder of all too recent history.