article: The movie, which has six Academy Award nominations compared to The Revenant's 12, is all about upsetting the balance of power. The film focuses on a piece of groundbreaking journalism that rocked the foundations of the Catholic Church in 2002, when four reporters, the investigative Spotlight team of the Boston Globe newspaper, ran an expose on how the church had covered up sexual abuse by more than 70 priests in the Boston area. The story would lead, not only to the resignation of Boston's Cardinal, but to the uncovering of further abuse in 102 cities in the USA, and 105 dioceses worldwide. Stanley Tucci, who plays a lawyer representing victims of abuse, describes the script as "no fuss, no fat, no fluff - there's no love story or distraction from the purpose of the movie, which is to tell the story of the investigation". Spotlight is directed by actor and writer Tom McCarthy, best known for his part as Scott Templeton in The Wire. And Tucci is joined on the cast list by Michael Keaton, Rachel McAdams and Mark Ruffalo, who play the Spotlight team. McCarthy, who is nominated for best director and best adapted screenplay, agrees that to focus on the journalists rather than the abuse itself was an unusual step, but points out the scale of their achievement. "It's extraordinary that this story was uncovered by a team of four local reporters, who put themselves against the might of one of the world's most powerful institutions," he says. "And the fact they uncovered the story was an achievement in itself. Even though these events took place 15 years ago, just before 9/11, we forget how much the world has changed. It was, effectively, a pre-digital world, and so much of their research was done meticulously in library basements, in courthouses, in poring over newspaper clippings. "This is an example of really strong local journalism that went on to have a national and then a global impact. It's important to remember when funding for this kind of investigative reporting has taken a huge hit." The investigation started in 2001 when a new editor of the Boston Globe, Marty Baron, ordered the Spotlight team to follow up on a small column in the paper about a local priest accused of sexually abusing children and teenagers over the course of 30 years. The Spotlight editor, Walter Robinson, along with reporters Michael Rezendes and Sacha Pfeiffer, began to research the case. Over the course of a year, they discovered a systematic establishment cover-up of the paedophile activities of scores of priests. Their reporting would lead the way for more exposes in more than 200 cities across the world. While many of the cast and crew, including Mark Ruffalo, have a Catholic background, Tucci believes seeing the film "as an attack, or a condemnation of Catholicism, would be wrong. "It's actually absolutely the opposite - it's a condemnation of corruption, especially the corruption of basic Christian tenets. It's a condemnation of the abuse of power, and people who abuse the real innocents in society. "The
summary: Spotlight is the bookies' favourite to take best film at this year's Oscars, over Leonardo Di Caprio's western The Revenant.