'Spotlight' Is My Bet For "Best Picture" in the 88th Academy Awards

Spotlight tells the true story of the “Spotlight” team – The Boston Globe’s prolific and renowned investigative reporting team – which won the 2003 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service for the work they had on exposing the wide-spread child abuse practices by pedophile Roman Catholic priests and the decades-long cover up done by the high levels of the Roman Catholic Church.  I’ve seen a few “based on a true story” movies lately, and Spotlight is by far the most realistic and relevant.

Spotlight is an absorbing, thought-provoking, fact-driven story that favorably displays investigative journalism without romanticizing it.  It’s also unflinching in delivering the lurid details of the scandal it is covering.  Others might deem this movie as an “attack” on faith, but it’s not.  It condemns the rotten system that allows such shockingly disgusting practice to thrive and go unpunished, but it doesn’t gratuitously disrespect any matters of faith.  The narrative unfolded in a consistently riveting and objective manner, as if it’s merely “reporting” what had happened.

Directed impeccably by Tom McCarthy, and with all-around stellar performances from its ensemble cast (Michael Keaton, Mark Ruffalo, Rachel McAdams, Brian d'Arcy James, Liev Schreiber, and John Slattery), Spotlight is, hands down, the most fascinating drama that I’ve seen in 2015.  In fact, it’s my bet for next year’s Academy Awards.  I hope it wins “Best Picture”, at least.