Papers’ blue period

THERE are two movies out at the moment, both Oscarnominated, both with great ensemble casts and both taking a look inside the hives of worker bees.

The Big Short is about the bankers who saw the financial crash approaching, and decided to make money out of it. It’s offbeat and jokey but also rather condescending in its assumption that we can’t be trusted with scenes that last more than a few minutes and can’t get interested in a movie about a crucial moment in history unless it puts Margot Robbie in a bubble bath to explain financial deals.

But I did enjoy Spotlight, a true story about a newspaper that methodically digs deep into a scandal i nvolving t he Catholic church. It’s an old-fashioned procedural drama, but gripping all the same. Tellingly, there’s no bathtime for ace reporter Rachel McAdams, pictured, who gets less glamorous but more credible work instead, such as tracking down sources whilst modelling the traditional journalist uniform of something that may have been due for the laundry basket three days ago. It’s a cracking story, well told.

But there’s another reason why we journalists rave about this movie. It’s about us – and not only do we come off as heroes, rather than sleazy weasels, but it’s set in the early 2000s, a time when newspapers had time and money to spare.

There’s sexy talk of spending months just thinking about a story, and a lot of keyboard-hammering. Best of all, there’s an entire scene devoted to photocopying. Basically, this is a journo’s version of porn.