Spotlight

Great movie, seller Pritam Music are CHEATS. I paid for Blu-ray and got a dvd quality ir even worse one in Blu-ray disc. Watched it late so cant ask for refund now.

When a new editor comes in at Boston Globe, the SPOTLIGHT team is assigned a new task - to investigate allegations of decades long child abuse in the Catholic Church - involving "(a) cover up at the highest levels of Boston's religious, legal and government establishments." Their reportage won them the Pulitzer Prize and SPOTLIGHT won the Academy Award for Best Film. SPOTLIGHT is a wonderfully directed suspense drama and with a very well chosen cast, this is film-making at its best, not lacking in thrill.

VideoCodec: MPEG-4 AVC (31.98 Mbps)Resolution: 1080pAspect ratio: 1.85:1(In the box it mentioned wrongly 2:40 but not movie was 1:85:1)Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1AudioEnglish: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)SubtitlesEnglish SDH, French, SpanishJust Bought 99₹ only the mrp was actually 1199₹ great deal

Great screen play of true story/ facts unearthed by a team of journalists. It shows how hard journalists worked to gather facts from victims. One has to see the movie. Thanks to Amazon, I got Blu disc at great price on prime day sale.

Great movie with realistic performances. Watch it, if can handle a serious business.

This is a must own for every blu-ray collector out there. Superb film and great transfer. The product arrived in pristine condition, thanks to the seller.

It a good movie. The Blu-ray disc was in perfect condition. The movie pack contains one Blu-ray disc only.

Excellent movie. Good performance by all. Good audio and video.

Investigative journalism might not appeal to everyone but this film appeals to many. Deserving of its accolades, it's a gripping tale of the revelation of some of worst human behaviour. The determination and drive of the press are presented in a way that underlines the role that genuine journalism can have in society. The impressive cast delivers what you'd expect and more. Liev Schreiber will be pleased with the role and his performance of the character that probably made the difference in real life.

I remember when this investigation was headline news and, much as I love watching Liev Schrieber and Mark Ruffalo, I was a bit doubtful as to how this would make a movie. The Oscar praise didn't really sway me (I still remember 'Argo' - *shudder*), but the excellent cast won out and I bought the dvd.This is an incredibly well made, well crafted and thoughtful film about a subject so shocking that, were it not true, no one would believe it. To use words like 'enjoyable' seems rather trite considering the subject matter, but this film is so good on so many levels I really did 'enjoy' it.Seeing actors portraying real people (journalists) doing what journalists do (ie most of the time sitting at a desk, writing or talking on the phone) does not sound like the stuff of great film, but believe me, these actors are so good, the direction so tight and well thought out that the suspense mounts stealthily and you find yourself totally drawn in with them. As they discover the breadth and depth of what they have uncovered, your incredulity grows with them.This two hours went by in a flash. I loved this film. Thoughtful, well made, inspiring, upsetting - there are plenty of adjectives. Special mention to Mark Ruffalo, Michael Keaton and Rachel McAdams - all of whom were exceptional.More than anything else this film proved beyond a doubt that you don't need riotous special effects, action heroes, car crashes or cgi to make a brilliant film - just great actors and a true, albeit horrific, story.Watch this - you will not be sorry.

Great film based on real life events,with a superb ensemble cast. All involved realise the sensitivity surrounding the subject matter and this is reflected in the performances. Well worth buying a classic!

The Washington Post has a new motto on it masthead:“Democracy Dies in Darkness”Those of us who’ve been paying attention understand what it means and why it’s there. In another context the astronomer Carl Sagan once said science is “a candle in the dark”. The same applies to a free and independent press. Without it authoritarianism reigns, or, just as bad, anarchy, which is the direction the U.S. now seems tending toward, a time of false equality and relativity where every tweet and opinion is considered just as valid as the next. But the bedrock of awareness and comprehension is still books and knowledge, education and understanding, facts and truths. Without these, no coherence, clarity, understanding. Without them, bedlam, anarchy. Just because Tom, Dick and Harry have opinions doesn’t mean they know anything, and if they’re using Twitter or the equivalent as the main source of their self-expression (140 characters or less) they probably don’t.The Watergate scandal is now vanishing into the fogs and mists of history. If you’re 30 or even 40 you may not know much about it unless you are interested in political history. But it’s worth mentioning now as an object lesson in why a free and independent press is vital. Woodward and Bernstein, the reporters at the Washington Post who broke the story, were allowed to do their jobs. They became known as investigative journalists because their boss and editor (Ben Bradlee) had the support of the paper behind him. Crimes had been committed — crimes authorised by the President of the United States. How to proceed? With tail between the legs or guns blazing, so to speak? Woodward and Bernstein took the latter approach, manned up for a gunfight at the O.K. Corral.How did these reporters succeed? With dogged determination, hard work, tips, leads, phone calls, fact checking, follow-ups and clandestine meetings with an informer whom they code named Deep Throat, in cheeky tribute to a popular porn film of the same name at the time (circa 1973-74). They were professionals. They went to journalism school and graduated. They knew how to do their jobs. They were members of a free and independent press. The crass mentality of the mob these days will call them part of an elite. Fair enough. What’s wrong with that? They earned their stripes. They had credentials. They were qualified. They didn’t write about reality in 140 characters or less.Another object lesson from the above is provided by this important film under review, an Academy Award winner for Best Picture last year. In it we see, up close and personal, the process of investigative journalism as it is unfolding. The investigation concerns criminal acts perpetrated by members of the Roman Catholic Church in the American city of Boston — sex offences committed against children in its care and protection. Three cheers for irony.Spotlight in the film is a term used inside the journalistic structure of the Boston Globe, Boston’s largest daily newspaper. The group was small, four main reporters working under a senior editor. Their objective within Spotlight was to dig into stories hard to get at. In short, like some in the law enforcement professions, they were investigators. As such, by the sensitive nature of what they were tasked to do, they had to be highly skilled and experienced.The story hinges on a crucial personnel decision made by management at the Globe in 2001. A senior editor was brought in from the outside, a person with no history in and ties to Boston. His name was Marty Baron. He grew up in Florida and started out with the Miami Herald, but had recently come over to the Globe from the New York Times. As senior editor he was responsible for the metro section of the paper, which included work by Spotlight.When he arrives Spotlight is pretty low key. The team is dealing with a lingering story that has lost its legs, if it ever had any. Baron wants the team to be bolder, to look into something highly relevant to the local community. Through his own work scanning past metro columns he has noted some cursory references to a tainted priest in the Boston archdiocese of the Roman Catholic Church. A short article says a lawyer named Mitchell Garabedian made public his claim that the priest (John Geoghan) had been protected by Cardinal Bernard Law, the highest ranking bishop in the Boston archdiocese. Geoghan was a sex offender, a pedophile. The story went nowhere, killed off by the Church. Baron wants Spotlight to investigate.The Spotlight reporters — Walter Robinson, Michael Rezendes, Sacha Pfeiffer and Matt Carroll — know what this means. They’re all Catholics, mostly lapsed but still Catholics, as Boston is largely a Catholic town. They gulp collectively. The beauty of Baron, though, is that he doesn’t have to gulp. He’s nothing like them. He’s Jewish, from Florida, not Catholic from Boston. The Church is just another entity or subject to him. It may be powerful and influential, but it isn’t almighty. It may operate above the law or try to, but it’s subject to it like any other group or institution. As outsider, Baron has no vested interest, no emotional stake and history in the Church. He is fresh, unblemished, objective, dispassionate. He’s a pro, the only sort that could have tackled the story and done it successfully.So, the reporters begin to dig. It’s tough going, hard work. Nobody wants to talk. Lawyers, priests, families, victims — most are mute. Those who have spoken out, or have tried to (for instance, some families of victims) have been silenced by the Church, bought off with payments made by crooked lawyers who are also bought off. Offending priests have been reassigned within the diocese, given “sick leave”, or are shipped out of town. The scandal is hidden, the elephant huge but unseen in the room.The work is tiring, taxing, tedious. It takes tenacity to follow leads, make phone calls, search directories, find scarce documents, knock on doors slammed in their faces. It’s not easy either to make damaged people (victims) or corrupt ones (priests, lawyers, educators) open up. But some do, especially the victims. It starts with them, with their childhood memories of confusion, guilt, shame and pain.As professionals, as journalists, the main duty of the reporters is to find and report facts, to get at and publish truths. But these things do not exist independently from the people they affect. The reporters understand this. So their work also humanises them. Out of human decency they befriend their suffering subjects, acting as therapists.Digging deeper, they discover a dozen or more priests who may be guilty of sex offences against children, both boys and girls. But this estimate, in fact, is low. It’s closer to 90, a full-blown scandal happening under their noses. And, as will be revealed in the film, the Globe is one of the last to know about it (with good reason).The priests were predators, targeting the most vulnerable individuals, mainly children from low-income, broken homes where fathers were absent. They acted as proxy fathers, and in fact the Church refers to them as Fathers, so the Church can’t be accused of lacking a sense of humour, wicked and cruel though it may be.If the film has a weakness, it’s in the judicial follow-up to these crimes. They went on for years and involved nearly a hundred priests, roughly 6% of the priesthood in Boston. As valuable as investigative journalism is, the judiciary is even more important: judges, attorney generals, prosecutors, grand juries — those with the power to subpoena, examine evidence, pass judgements, reach verdicts, determine sentences, demand punishments. I would like to know how many priests were excommunicated and incarcerated for their crimes. How many were rehabilitated as persons, not as priests? Where are they now? How are they atoning for their sins?Cardinal Bernard Law is not one who is atoning. He’s still protected. Like a Nazi elected mayor of Asunción in Paraguay, he’s now a cardinal in the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome. What a laugh. Why doesn’t the whole creaky edifice of Catholicism come crashing down? This is the 21st century, not the 12th. Inadequate, partial answers: history, tradition, inertia; ignorance, superstition, fear. It’s the old problem, well documented in “Life of Brian”, still the greatest parody on religion ever filmed — people enslaved, conditioned by authority instead of challenging it by thinking critically, rationally, independently for themselves.Enraged at the Papacy, King Henry VIII destroyed the Roman Catholic churches and monasteries in 16th century England. The measure was extreme, but he had a good point, or thought he did. Sometimes I think so too, and this is one of them, having just watched this magnificent, disturbing film. The Church is a museum relic. Rescue your Sundays and life from it.

Excellent movie about the journalistic investigation into the sex abuse scandal in the Catholic church Based on a tragic true story..Heartbreaking for the victims whose lives have been ruined by these vilest of creatures who masquerade as Priests in an attempt to conceal the monstrous truth hiden behind clerical disguise.This is also a tragedy for the good Priests who serve their communities faithfully and unselfishly. The issue has left a scar on the whole community and is indefensible. It is the great shame of the Catholic heirarchy that this was repeatedly covered up and allowed to continue in an effort to protect the reputation of the church which is in tatters because of this scandal. It should be a wake up call to every institution on the planet to bring to justice anyone guilty of these heinous crimes against vulnerable children.This is a film everyone should see in order to ensure that this sort of behaviour is stamped out once and for all.