On January 6, 2002, the Boston Globe had a first page headline that shocked the city, “Church Allowed Abuse by Priest for Years.” Writer/director Tom McCarthy’s superb Spotlight is the story of the investigation by determined journalists seeking the truth about a very painful scandal. One of the Spotlight members, Michael Rezendes, meets a lawyer, Mitchell Garabedian, in his cluttered office. Litigating against a politically powerful church Garabedian has unsuccessfully defended children who have been abused by priests. Garabedian feeds Michael  disturbing information about the abuses and the coverup  by the Catholic Church. At first the team focused on one former priest, John J. Geoghan. But the new editor, Marty Baron, is not satisfied with pursuing one “bad apple.” He believes this abuse is endemic in the Catholic Church in Boston. He orders his staff to investigate the entire Catholic diocese. In the end,  Cardinal Bernard Law, the Archbishop of Boston, was forced to step down in disgrace, saying, “To all those who have suffered from my shortcomings and mistakes I both apologize and from them beg forgiveness.”

Mark Ruffalo (Michael Rezendes) / Liev Schreiber (Marty Baron) / Stanley Tucci (Mitchell Garabedian) / Len Cariou (Cardinal Bernard Law, Archbishop of Boston)