Spotlight (15)

Every now and then, a film will come along that leaves you dumbstruck, somehow not quite believing what you've seen.

Not in the Movie 43 sense, where you can't quite believe what perfectly good actors have agreed to take part in, but in the sense of a story so profound, so painfully awful that you can't believe it actually happened.

Spotlight is such a film.

Covering the scandal of paedophile priests in the Catholic church revealed by the Boston Globe, Spotlight will leave you angry and disgusted that such a thing could not only happen but be allowed to happen.

And that but is key.

Because the one thing that comes through loud and clear - and is in fact emphasised by Stanley Tucci's Mitchell Garabedian - is how guilty the whole city was in not dealing with the problem.

The film starts with a well-measured introduction to the Spotlight team - the journalists who uncovered the scandal, played perfectly by Mark Ruffalo, Michael Keaton, Rachel McAdams and Brian d'Arcy James.

It's not a grand opening, there's no fanfare, there's just office discussions about the story they ma or may not be covering.

And it's in this brief moment that the tone and pace of the film is set.

There's no grandstanding anywhere to be seen, the pace doesn't change, the story is just allowed to unfold naturally as the tension - and your anger levels - slowly rise.

Often in films, newsrooms and journalists are portrayed as people and places full of frenetic energy - always racing against the clock, pushing boundaries, smoking and drinking at the end of a long day.

But the truth is much more normal than that - and it's this normal that Spotlight captures perfectly.

It's the legwork, the knocking on doors, the reading of files in libraries, the trying to get reluctant people to speak that is actual newspaper journalism.

And Spotlight not only captures this perfectly - to the point I actually started yearning to be back in the world of daily papers - but writer/director Tom McCarthy and co-writer Josh Singer make an essentially dull part of the job seem tense and dramatic.

And this is one of the strengths of the film.

You see, the story here is key.

It's big. It's huge. It's a story that rocked the world and one of it's biggest organised religions - and with a deft hand, that story is allowed to hold centre stage and keep you captivated.

All of the actors know they are part of something bigger than themselves and so deliver note-perfect, measured performances that draw you in and keep you hooked from the opening scenes.

As every further layer of deceit, corruption and child abuse is revealed, you share in their shock, disgust and frustration at trying to bring the story to light.

There's a moment, as happened in the actual event, when 9/11 threatens to derail their investigation.

And even knowing how big a story the Twin Towers attacks was, knowing as we do how that one day changed the focus of an entire nation, you are almost screaming at the screen - you're willing the journalists to finish what they started.

You'll care that much.

And that's because this film is near perfect.

Bringing to mind classic dramas of the 70s, not to mention proper documentaries what they used to make back in my day, Spotlight captures a time period as if still pictures were being used.

There are no car chases, no sex scenes, no fights, and no over-blown running about sequences - because this film doesn't need them.

It's bigger and better than that.

It grabs you gently by the hand, sits you down and then refuses to let you get up, keeping you captivated and breathless for it's all-too-brief two-hour running time.

Now, I know I have a soft spot for any film that shows me printing press and newspapers - I'm pretty sure I'm the only person in the UK who actually has a copy of The Paper on DVD - but I defy anyone to watch the papers being wrapped and taken out in the trucks and not be on the edge of their seat.

It would have been easy to make Spotlight a mawkish, sentimental tale which focused on the victims, but by telling the story from the point of view of those who worked on it you share in their journey.

I ought to mention Liev Schreiber too.

As the editor brought in from outside, it was his distance from the Boston mentality and affection for the church that first gave the story backing.

And Schreiber is up there with the rest in delivering a perfect performance of a man outside of his comfort zone and adrift in a strange city but can see a bigger picture unfolding.

It's a performance that arguably betters his role in The Reluctant Fundamentalist.

I could go on about the perfect score, the smart editing that keeps you on your toes, the wonderful cinematography - but do you know what?

I can't do it justice.

This film deserves - and in fact - needs to be seen by everyone. It's telling a tale that affects everyone, whether you're Catholic or not.

It's a story of shame, corruption, deceit - if it was about a bank, we'd all be outraged.

But it's about a deeper, more personal, more insidious scandal for which everyone who stood by and did nothing should feel a deep, unremitting shame.

Is this a fun film to watch? No, not particularly, even if it does have some lighter moments.

But like All The Presidents Men, it's a film everyone needs to see, to know what went on, to know what unfolded as good men did nothing.

And if you aren't screaming at the screen as the final captions hang in front of you, there's something wrong with you.