All the brouhaha about how racist
the Oscars were this year has obscured the more pertinent issue about how
cowardly and unconcerned with artistic rigor they are. Exhibit A: Spotlight. In what possible
context can this be considered the “best film” of this or any other year? If only ten English-language movies were made
last year and the other nine were martial arts and porn, Spotlight may very well be the best. But that’s a ton of ‘if’s.’ It’s not bad; it’s profoundly competent and
adequate. As a journalism/exposé drama, it’s no All the President’s Men by any means, and it’s not even a Zodiac.
The particulars of the Boston Globe’s series of articles about the
Catholic Church’s role in covering up sexual abuse by priests are irrelevant;
this film could have been based on any number of templates for true stories about
plucky reporters aching to make a difference and the hard-bitten editors whose
severity keeps the stories honest. I
don’t fault the filmmakers for not fabricating plot details out of thin air,
but I do fault them for not taking the initiative to come up with a cinematic
solution to make such overly familiar material interesting; (Danny Boyle
recently did so with Steve Jobs, so
it’s hardly impossible). In particular,
the director must also take responsibility for the extraordinary achievement of
making one of the best actors around, Mark Ruffalo, come off poorly; no easy
task. Instead of working with Ruffalo to
hone his work, he hangs him out to dry and lets him indulge a weird collection
of ticks, accents and facial contortions that are more distracting than
affecting. Yes, it’s an important story
– because child rapists and those who protect them deserve to be punished – but
that doesn’t make Spotlight a great movie. Until we wake up and accept that art isn’t subordinate
to activism, we’re going to be saddled with films like this that – according to
numerous surveys in the wake of the Oscars' racial scandal – are virtually
unknown and of no real interest to anyone outside of the MPAA and critics
circles.
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