History Film / Spotlight

* IncomingHam: Mitch Garabedian, and you don't even see him. "SHARON! WHERE THE HELL ARE MY PAPERS! I TOLD YOU TO LEAVE THEM ON MY DESK!"

* StunnedSilence: When a psychologist says that roughly 6 percent of priests are pedophiles, the Spotlight team does some quick math and come up with a whopping ''90'' priests in Boston alone. The resulting silence is so long that the priest, waiting on the phone, asks if they're still there, but the only response the team can muster is "Uh--".

** An ''extremely'' subtle one with the establishment of catholocism as a whole, voiced through Pete Conley. When Marty Baron meets him at a charity gala, he says he's on the board of Catholic Charities, and they're very proud of the work they do in Boston. He's high up in the local society and he's doing very well for himself, despite the indisputable fact that Pride is one of the seven deadly sins. In other words everyone is okay with that little bit of sin as long as the church as a whole is doing fine. Clever, isn't it?

** An ''extremely'' subtle one with Pete Conley. When Marty Baron meets him at a charity gala, he says he's on the board of Catholic Charities, and they're very proud of the work they do in Boston. He's high up in the local society and he's doing very well for himself, despite the indisputable fact that Pride is one of the seven deadly sins. In other words everyone is okay with that little bit of sin as it helps the curch as a whole. Clever, isn't it?

** It's played down with Cardinal Law, who is castigated for letting the abuse continue, but at the same time the film does acknowledge that he did champion civil rights in his youth, and the staff at the ''Globe'' commend him for his speech after 9/11 calling for tolerance. Although many in Charlestown hate Bernard Law for championing the change of the Bunker Hill Bridge.

* EstablishingCharacterMoment: Mike Rezendes is introduced having worked through a retirement party, showing his dedication to his job.

** It's played down with Cardinal Law, who is castigated for letting the abuse continue, but at the same time the film does acknowledge that he did champion civil rights in his youth, and the staff at the ''Globe'' commend him for his speech after 9/11 calling for tolerance.
*** Many in Charlestown hate Bernard Law for championing the change of the Bunker Hill Bridge.

* LongList: The film ends with the statistics of the numerous articles written on the issue. It then goes on to show that similar cases were eventually exposed in cities around the world. That list of cities goes on for '''''4''''' screens listing '''''51''''' cities each for a total of '''''204'''''.

* NotEvenBotheringWithTheAccent. Lampshaded when Garabedian tells Rezendes (played by Wisconsin-born Mark Ruffalo) 'You're from East Boston? You don't sound like it.' Followed by a long, awkward pause.

* RaisedCatholic: All the Spotlight reporters describe themselves as lapsed Catholics when they interview Phil Saviano near the beginning of the movie. The investigation doesn't do much to strengthen their faith. [[spoiler: Sacha, the most practicing of the four, stops going to Mass with her grandmother after it becomes difficult to not picture the victims while at services]]

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/spotlight.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:[[Film/AllThePresidentsMen All the Cardinal's men.]][[note]] L-R: Sacha Pfeiffer, Mike Rezendes, Matt Carroll, Walter "Robby" Robinson, Ben Bradlee Jr.[[/note]]]]

* StunnedSilence: When a psychologist says that roughly 6 percent of priests are pedophiles, the Spotlight team does some quick math and come up with a whopping ''90'' priests in Boston alone. The psychologist, still on the phone, asks if they're still there after a long silence, but even then the reporters can only barely find any words.

* LongList: The film ends with the statistics of the numerous articles written on the issue. It then goes on to show that similar cases were eventually exposed in cities around the world. That list of cities goes on for '''''4''''screens listing '''''51''''' cities each for a total of '''''204'''''.

* LongList: The film ends with the statistics of the numerous articles written on the issue. It then goes on to show that similar cases were eventually exposed in cities around the world. That list of cities goes on for multiple screens listing at least 40 cities each.

* ItsPersonal: Carroll (the father of two young children who [[AdultFear discovers a "treatment center" for paedophilic priests is ''one block away from his house'']]) definitely gives off this vibe when the scandal is published and he personally goes to leave a first edition of the newspaper at the centre's front door. Downplayed, however, in that he doesn't try to actually confront the priests, nor have his own children been victims.

* ItsPersonal: Carroll (the father of two young children who discovers a "treatment center" for paedophilic priests is ''one block away from his house'') definitely gives off this vibe when the scandal is published and he personally goes to leave a first edition of the newspaper at the centre's front door. Downplayed, however, in that he doesn't try to actually confront the priests, nor have his own children been victims.

* KnightInSourArmor: Garabedian. He's a cynical, bitter, grumpy middle-aged man who hasn't got married because he's "too busy" with his job. His job is trying to nail the Catholic Church for protecting pedophile priests that raped children and got away with it. As we see at the end of the movie, after the scandal breaks out, he just keeps going.

* HistoryRepeats: Ben Bradlee was editor of the Washington Post and oversaw Woodward and Bernstein's investigation into Watergate. Thirty years later, his son, Ben Jr, oversees the investigation into the Catholic Church sex abuse scandal.

[[caption-width-right:350:All the Cardinal's men.[[note]] L-R: Sacha Pfeiffer, Mike Rezendes, Matt Carroll, Walter "Robby" Robinson, Ben Bradlee Jr.[[/note]]]]

* SpiritualSuccessor: To ''Film/AllThePresidentsMen'', which was also about a group of investigative reporters who exposed one of the biggest scandals in American history. For bonus points, both involved someone by the name of Ben Bradlee (the sex abuse investigation actually involved his son, Ben Jr.).

* AdultFear: Matt Carroll, who is a father of two young children, is clearly the most affected by reporting on the story. [[FromBadToWorse It gets worse]] when he finds out that a treatment center (or, a group home for priests who have been caught molesting children) is ''one block away'' from his house. He tapes a photo of the treatment center to his fridge with a note warning his kids to stay away. As the real Matt Carroll wrote, [[https://medium.com/3-to-read/spotlight-the-movie-a-personal-view-f0fa39900afc#.3u4wx5g1e that part was 100% true]], and the scene was filmed in Carroll's real West Roxbury neighborhood.

* AdultFear: Matt Carroll, who is a father of two young children, is clearly the most affected by reporting on the story. [[FromBadToWorse It gets worse]] when he finds out that a treatment center (or, a group home for priests who have been caught molesting children) is ''one block away'' from his house. He tapes a photo of the treatment center to his fridge with a note warning his kids to stay away. As the real Matt Carroll wrote, [[https://medium.com/3-to-read/spotlight-the-movie-a-personal-view-f0fa39900afc#.3u4wx5g1e that part was 100% true.]]

* ChristianityIsCatholic: For the purposes of this film, at least. The focus is very much on how the power, secrecy and hierarchy of the Church combined to keep the abuse concealed for so long. Other denominations don't really come up, though Baron being Jewish and Garabedian being a non-Catholic Armenian are both mentioned as being a factor in them being able to take on the Church without being awed by it the way practising Catholics are, or personally betrayed and enraged by it in the manner of the lapsed Catholics.

* ExecutiveMeddling: Soon after taking over as editor, Marty Baron tasks Spotlight with looking into the Father Geoghan lawsuit even though Robbie points out that the team picks their own stories. However the team is in need of an interesting story at the time so they take the assignment without any objections.

* ExecutiveMeddling: In-universe. Soon after taking over as editor, Marty Baron tasks Spotlight with looking into the Father Geoghan lawsuit even though Robbie points out that the team picks their own stories. However the team is in need of an interesting story at the time so they take the assignment without any objections.

* FromBadToWorse: The story itself becomes uglier and uglier the more the group dig into it. First it looks like just two priests in Boston. Then a survivor comes forward claiming it's as many as 13. Then there's evidence that higher-ups in the Church actually knew. Then it looks like there's scientific evidence pedophile priests might be encouraged (and covered up) by the lifestyle enforced on them by the Church. Then it appears there are as many as ''ninety'' priests in Boston. Each discovery is seen as even more unbelievable than the last.