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Spotlight · written by Josh Singer & Tom McCarthy · 2015
Scene 63 of 143 · ≈ 2 min on screen · Act two
The Boston Globe's Spotlight team pries open the Catholic Church's decades-long cover-up of child abuse — one sealed record, one silenced victim at a time.
Robby's Spotlight team operates comfortably inside its own routine, prospecting a modest police-corruption story under a departing editor's cover.
Baron's outsider question exposes what the paper has never done: investigate whether Cardinal Law knowingly protected an abusive priest.
The team sets aside its own project and enters unfamiliar territory: survivor networks, a hostile plaintiff's lawyer, and a legal fight to unseal church records.
Phil Saviano tells the team abuse this systemic isn't just physical, it's spiritual: 'if it takes a village to raise a child, it takes a village to abuse one.'
Robby and Sacha confront MacLeish about the missing court records, and he begins to unravel, describing years of private, off-the-books settlements with the Church.
Sacha reports to Ben and the team that MacLeish's settlements left no paper trail, arguing his practice effectively kept the abuse buried under confidentiality deals; Ben agrees to keep going on the thirteen priests.
At a black-tie charity gala, Marty is coldly vetted by Pete Conley of Catholic Charities, then Robby finds him alone and recounts how Cardinal Law once 'called down the power of God' on the Globe during the Porter investigation.
This scene
CLOSE ON a bowl of soup. HANDS reach for it... REVEAL Garabedian and Mike having dinner. Mike’s going over notes.
MIKE
You said there was a victim who
filed a criminal complaint?
GARABEDIAN
There were a few, but the judge
sealed the case records after
friends of the Church stepped in.
The Church has a lot of friends.
MIKE
Like Eric MacLeish?
Garabedian sees he understands. Garabedian’s impressed.
GARABEDIAN
Let’s just say, he’s not part of the
solution. You follow what I’m
saying?
MIKE
Sure.
Mike jots down some notes. Garabedian watches him.
GARABEDIAN
You work hard, Mr. Rezendes. Are
you married?
MIKE
Yeah.
GARABEDIAN
And your wife doesn’t mind you
working all the time?
MIKE
Yeah, she does.
GARABEDIAN
See. That’s why I never got
married. I’m too busy, what I do is
too important.
Garabedian salts his soup.
GARABEDIAN (CONT’D)
Your new editor, he’s a Jew right?
MIKE
Uh, that’s right.
GARABEDIAN
He comes in, suddenly everybody is
interested in the Church. You know
why? Because it takes an outsider.
Like me. I’m Armenian. How many
Armenians do you know in Boston?
MIKE
Steve Kurkjian, works at the Globe.
GARABEDIAN
That’s two! You should get a prize
or something. What are you, Italian?
MIKE
Portuguese.
GARABEDIAN
From where?
MIKE
East Boston.
GARABEDIAN
You don’t sound like it.
Mike shrugs. Garabedian shakes his head, chuckles.
GARABEDIAN (CONT’D)
This city, these people, making the
rest of us feel like we don’t
belong. But they’re no better than
us. Look how they treat their
children.
(wiping his mouth)
Mark my words, Mr. Rezendes, if it
takes a village to raise a child, it
takes a village to abuse one.
Garabedian eats. Mike ponders. Oddly moved.