Hollywood Road

The outside world's revelations about the various scandals committed by Catholicism in the United States are still continuing. With Gal Gadot watching this development, Murphy is very relieved and can devote all his energy to the script writing of the new project. It is not easy for a film with a clear theme and goal to succeed in the end.

First of all, Murphy determined the title of the project, which is Focus at the press conference.

For him, this is a carefully selected film in a special social environment, and as early as when planning the film Diego Rose's trip to the Olympics, it was basically determined that Focus would be filmed.

Movies are deeply influenced by social and environmental factors, and there is no social situation more suitable for this movie than the present.

Not to mention the inside of Hollywood, which was stimulated by the Catholic attack, even most of the media are applauding this film.

Murphy Stanton's new film Spotlight will become a classic film that interprets press freedom and demonstrates the power of the media!

The mainstream media, led by The New York Times, began to sing praises for Murphy before the film was officially approved.

To a large extent, the mainstream media basically represents the voice of the mainstream society. Although Catholicism has considerable influence in the United States, the continuous appearance of a series of exposed scandals has made them offend the mainstream society of the United States. Sensitive bottom line of touch - protection of children and minors.

Even the Washington Post, which has never liked Murphy very much, stood on the opposite side of Catholicism this time, and continuously published articles urging the Washington authorities to conduct a thorough investigation of this series of scandals.

Of course, it is not easy for these matters to enter the judicial process. Just as the Kennedy family is a devout Catholic and represents the interests of the Catholic Church, Catholicism still has considerable influence in the political landscape of the United States.

In today's social situation, it may be exaggerated to say that Murphy's new film is highly anticipated, but it is a fact that it is highly anticipated.

This is a good thing, but it also has a downside. The higher the expectation, the lower the tolerance for mistakes in the production of the film, especially for a film based on real events with extremely serious themes and content. , low-level mistakes are absolutely not allowed!

Therefore, before writing the script, Murphy first had to figure out all the ins and outs of the Focus column team's report on the Catholic corruption scandal.

Since he has a plan, he will definitely make preparations in advance. Bill Rosses has collected a lot of information before, and even with Robbie Robinson, who actually led and participated in the news investigation back then,

A smooth communication channel has been established, which is conducive to the writing of the script and reduces the chance of making mistakes.

Although he had watched the movie several times, before writing the script outline, Murphy first flew to Boston, communicated with Robbie Robinson and others for a few days, and began to read a large amount of information after returning.

Facts are the basis of this film's existence.

First of all, Murphy specifically checked a survey and statistics on the Catholic Church. Seeing the statistics above, he also somewhat understood why the Archbishop Marquez Costello was so eager and strong to expand the influence of the Catholic Church.

Because according to survey statistics, in the United States today, more than 50% of people who believe in Catholicism since childhood will stay away from Catholicism when they grow up!

What is this concept? At least half of those who grew up in or with Catholic families ended up not being Catholic.

It is no exaggeration to say that this is a very scary ratio, and it has continued to expand in recent years.

As for what makes these people leave the Catholic Church, there is a very high percentage of claims - I was raised in the Catholic Church, and I was horrified at a very young age by the hypocrisy and dogma of Catholicism.

Then, Murphy began to check the specific information of the news events of the year. This news investigation can be described in one sentence. From 2001 to 2002, a column group called Focus in the Boston Globe molested priests. A series of reports on child incidents, exposing the scandal of sexual abuse of children committed by Catholic priests in the United States.

At first glance, this incident seems to be no big deal, and it is not much better than what Murphy once did on Diego Rose, but this kind of thing is a completely different concept in Los Angeles and Boston.

The power of Catholicism in these two cities is very different!

Catholicism is the largest church in Boston. It has a great influence in the local political arena and often puts pressure on various institutions. The Kennedy family is the most famous Catholic political family in Boston. The reason for the mass sexual abuse of children by priests in Boston , It has a lot to do with the fact that the local law enforcement department under the pressure of the Catholic Church gave a lighter punishment and did not report it.

Before writing the script, Murphy must first figure out the cause and effect of the whole thing.

At the end of July 2001, Marty Baron, who belonged to the New York Times Group, had just transferred from the group's Miami Herald to the Boston Globe. Then the report that the pastor is suspected of being involved in a sexual assault scandal, when he was about to conduct a more in-depth investigation, he was told that the judge had sealed the court scene records, which undoubtedly prevented the pastor's personal files from being made public, Marty Baron He immediately realized that what he was facing would be a real big news!

He launched the Focus team headed by Robbie Robinson and began to investigate Father John Jorgen.

The results of the investigation were shocking: the Catholic priest had sexually abused more than 130 boys during his six-year career as a priest! What is even more surprising is that his affairs were not without exposure, but he continued to retain his original priesthood for 30 years after being exposed for molesting young church members.

The Focus team compiled the investigation of Father John-Jorgen into a report titled Catholic Church Allowed Priests to Abuse Children for Years.

At the beginning, the reporters of the Focus team thought that there were about 15 to 20 pastors who had done the same molestation of churchgoers, but after investigation, they found that there were nearly 250 pastors in Boston in the past few decades. Priests have done child molestation.

What is even more infuriating is that in order to prevent things from being exposed, the church has reshuffled the clergy from one diocese to another, and these clergy continue to commit child molestation in the new diocese, making more and more Many people become victims.

It is worth mentioning that during the investigation, a pastor named Ronald Paquin personally admitted what he had done in an interview.

This is of great significance to the whole incident, because although the results of the investigation were known at that time, none of the clergy involved in the case had ever confessed to the crimes they had committed, and almost all clergymen kept this matter secret. It is self-evident that Father Quinn's public acknowledgment aroused great repercussions among the people.

He said he molested the boys until 1989, when the diocesan bishop transferred him from Boston, for a full 15 years and through two different parishioners.

But he said, Yes, I'm stupid, but I've never raped anyone and I've never had any pleasure in it.

In addition, Ronald Paquin also revealed that he was raped by a Catholic priest when he was a teenager.

The scandal finally came to light. From January 6, 2002 to December 14 of that year, the Boston Globe made nearly 600 series of reports on clergy sexual abuse of children and won the 2003 Pulitzer Prize for journalism. The report touched more victims to stand up bravely. In the end, 249 priests and priests were publicly accused in the Archdiocese of Boston, and the number of living victims exceeded 1,000.

It is worth mentioning that the original news source, Father John Jogan, under the protection of three cardinals and many church bishops, has continued to commit crimes for 34 years, but in 2003 he was surrounded and beaten in prison shoot.

The truth that everyone knows but keeps secret, the dissuasion from friends in the religious circles, and even the resistance from family members... Until the final report that shocked the world was finally released, Focus undoubtedly demonstrated the strength of journalists' professionalism in the process Resilience.

This is what the Pulitzer Prize commented on this news event that year.

Murphy has worked in a similar profession. In today's society, in order to chase news and explosive news, it can be said that most reporters have no bottom line just like him back then, but it is undeniable that there are still some reporters who are quite just. sense and social responsibility.

No matter how you say it, these reporters can be said to be courageous, after all, more than ten years ago was not now.

At that time, the new century had just entered, and the power of the church was far stronger than it is now. For the American society that advertises freedom, the freedom of public opinion is naturally an important part. You can report government scandals, you can criticize official corruption, you One can accuse public figures of gaffes, but challenging the church is another matter.

The focus group of four challenged not only one or two criminal priests, but the entire church system that covered and maintained these tainted priests. response.

It is a pity that the church power at the beginning, especially in the northeastern region of the United States, was quite strong. After the brief sensation of the incident, it was suppressed by the Catholic side, and it has been gradually forgotten by people until now.

The destruction of the body is far less than the destruction of the soul.

At the beginning of the script outline, Murphy deliberately added a sentence, ready to be used at the beginning of the film, The so-called media should not be a medium of praise, but should be the eyes of justice, insight and disclosure of the evils of this world!