Saturday night was a big night for the highly acclaimed movie Spotlight. The film’s actors garnered the award for outstanding cast in a motion picture.
The film highlights the Pulitzer Prize winning work of a team of investigative journalists from the Boston Globe (known as the Spotlight Team) as they investigate the child sexual abuse issue in Catholic parishes within the Archdiocese of Boston. Their investigation uncovered hundreds of cases of sexual abuse perpetrated by Catholic priests but perhaps more importantly, the cover-up that followed by the Archdiocese of Boston.
Of course, we love the movie because of our own work representing survivors of abuse by Catholic priests and trusted religious leaders in other churches. We were particularly struck by the stories of the victims shown in the movie. As Rolling Stone said, “It’s these survivors who give Spotlight its beating heart.”
The film debuted late last year and won critical acclaim but up until Saturday evening, had not fared well on the awards circuit. According to Variety:
Spotlight began its journey not unlike last year’s best picture winner, with a Venice Film Festival world premiere and a Telluride bow immediately thereafter. Six of the last seven best picture winners have played Telluride, making it an ersatz good-luck charm, but Spotlight also asserted itself as a popular drama with broad appeal. It played Toronto before hitting theaters Nov. 6, and has a domestic box office tally just north of $33 million.
Film critics believe the SAG recognition positions Spotlight for Oscar awards contention. We hope it wins!