Directed by: Tom McCarthy, who played Scott Templeton on The Wire
This film was very good; essentially an extension of the real-life journalism it describes. There are very few historical inaccuracies (though there are some), and it helps you understand why the subject is important without relying on melodrama.
This film is about the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalism done by the Boston Globe that exposed Catholic Church cover-ups of pedophile priests. I’ve heard dirty priest jokes as far back as the early 2000’s, and I know they’re older than that, but the jokes weren’t just jokes, and this journalism was apparently one of the modern exposés that actually helped get it addressed on a public level.
For those who aren’t familiar (so probably most of us), it’s a good piece of history to look at, and helps you understand the power of investigative reporting, something everyone ought to get good at with the Internet flooding everything. On a viewing level, it’s a soft R (I thought it was PG-13) for some language and some frank discussion of pedophilia. But it doesn’t wallow in the awfulness. They talk about it the same way you’d talk about it with your peers. There’s no melodrama or yelling, just facts. They don’t need to emphasize how wrong this is, they trust you know it.
I’d recommend it. It’s on Netflix right now. It’s two hours and ten minutes. If you’ve heard a dirty priest joke or made a dirty priest joke, this’ll help you understand why they’re so prevalent. In issues like this, there’s a tendency by everyone involved to want to downplay the facts, but the point the film makes is that it’s better to face the facts and try to solve them rather than try to cover it up. That’s a responsible way to run an organization. Recommend.
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