Film Illiterate, wherein the proprietor records movies seen, and sporadic progress through assorted lists of the "best". Originally started after regretfully renting something forgettable for the third time. I've forgotten what, but never again! A tedious endeavour since 2005. Hello. 🙂
What looks like a standard film about newsroom heroics -- staff at the Boston Globe investigate the Catholic sexual abuse scandal -- is made exceptional by its recriminations. It's not a story leaked by the mysterious Deep Throat; once the investigation kicks off, angry interviewees and victims bitterly complain that they had already volunteered the information years earlier. Church officials and devout members of the public throw up roadblocks, all eventually conquered, but it's a bittersweet victory.
It's less a story of institutional corruption than one of systemic disbelief: surely no priest could do what was claimed; surely it was just a few bad apples; surely the church hierarchy couldn't possibly know. How and why was this concealed for so long, and what did it mean for it to be uncovered? That's the real story.
It's a fantastic script, with great performances, especially from Mark Ruffalo. Tom McCarthy just keeps going from strength to strength.