‘Spotlight’ illuminates Catholic sex abuse scandal, holds torch for journalism

TORONTO – The new docudrama “Spotlight” illuminates the sexual abuse scandal that rocked the Catholic Church in the early 2000s — but director Thomas McCarthy isn’t expecting the film to stand as any kind of flashpoint.

“I’m not out here to skewer the Catholic Church — they did that to themselves, and it’s widely reported on,” the Oscar nominee said during the Toronto International Film Festival, where the movie bowed to enthusiastic reviews.

“I’m here to find out: How does this happen?”

In search of his answer, McCarthy crafted a star-studded journalism procedural that focuses on how a team of Boston Globe investigative reporters unearthed the story.

Michael Keaton, Rachel McAdams, Mark Ruffalo and John Slattery are among the actors playing the real-life journalists, whose dogged reportage ultimately revealed the names of hundreds of priests in the Boston area who had sexually abused children — and, perhaps more damningly, that the Catholic Church had covered up the crimes and merely shuffled the offending priests to new parishes.

To best present the galling reality of the film, McCarthy chose an “unadorned, unromanticized, unsensational” approach to the material that follows in the tradition of “All the President’s Men” with its ground-level presentation of journalism.

Not that the story didn’t hit close to home for McCarthy.

Raised Catholic, he attended Boston College and once lived across the street from the office of Bernard Francis Law, who was archbishop of Boston until he resigned in 2002 in alleged response to the scandal.

“I’m not a practising Catholic, but I’m still very connected to the church in a lot of ways,” said McCarthy, director of “The Visitor” and “The Station Agent.”

“Firstly, my family is very connected to the church. They’re very Catholic, my parents … and my brothers and sisters and their kids.

“A lot of Catholics who have seen this movie have already said to me: ‘There’s this one priest we kind of knew about, we kinda figured.’ And you’re like: ‘Why didn’t you say anything?’”

The story might never have come to light if not for the influence of Marty Baron, who joined the Boston Globe as editor-in-chief in July 2001. Played by Liev Schreiber, Baron in his first staff meeting wondered why the paper wasn’t digging more determinedly into a recent column about pedophile priest John Geoghan.

“It’s so vital and so important that we … remember how important this work is,” said the three-time Golden Globe nominee. “That this is the only way to hold large organizations and institutions accountable. That’s what journalism is.

“And it’s not, frankly, so much of what we’re seeing. I don’t know an American newspaper that isn’t suffering budget crises right now.”

That message, of course, goes over swimmingly with the ink-stained lot tasked with covering the movie.

“It’s one of the luxuries of making this film,” he says with a smile, “is that we are preaching to the converted.”

The film could be expected to find a less sympathetic audience among the wider public — particularly, one presumes, Catholics.

McCarthy, however, says test audiences composed of roughly 40 per cent Catholics “loved” the film. And he certainly doesn’t expect to hear anything from the church.

“I’m not anticipating a response,” he said. “I think that’s how the church operates — they don’t respond. They wouldn’t even have responded to this crisis if they didn’t have to.”

After the Globe’s Pulitzer Prize-winning series of stories was published, more incidents of clergy abuse came to light around the world.

Not that this story necessarily has a happy ending. Law, for instance, was appointed by Pope John Paul II as archpriest of the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome in 2004.

“He resigned and then went on to live a super cushy life … and still lives there, living a very cushy life,” McCarthy sighed.

“And the man should be in jail. Full stop. What a legacy.”

Schreiber was more inclined to offer hope — but then, once again, took cues from his onscreen counterpart.

“It was interesting because Marty and I did some interviews together and it was very inspiring to see him address that question,” Schreiber said. “I said something kind of lame and diplomatic, like: ‘I’m very impressed with Pope Francis, he seems to be a very progressive figure.’

“And Marty jumps in and says, ‘It’s not over. Clearly we wouldn’t be talking about it right now if it stopped.’”