A man exits prison, and his first stop is the apartment of a priest, whom he shoots in the head, splattering blood everywhere. Across the country, the man’s eldest son works as a “fixer,” operating beyond the boundaries of the law, beating stalkers with a baseball bat and cheating on his wife with a girl half his age. One of his brothers is an alcoholic and sexual anorexic, with the mind of a 12-year-old.

Welcome to the family of “Ray Donovan,” Showtime’s series about a Hollywood “fixer,” but whose subtext is about the long-ranging and devastating effects of sexual abuse at the hands of a priest. Every storyline is informed by the Donovan family’s grim past and, as such, elevates the drama and the societal issue far above the superficial treatment the same issue receives in the Oscar-nominated “Spotlight.”

“Spotlight” is a good film, with a solid script, and workmanlike performances from all involved. Yet it lacks any real exploration of the psychological and physical damage suffered by those who endured the abuse. The audience is provided a few scenes with victims, yet they are little more than generic stand-ins that exist more to push the plot forward than to provide any context or detail about life after abuse.

The film is ultimately nothing more than a procedural, with characterization replacing character, and plot replacing any kind of character journey. Compare “Spotlight” to a superior character study like “The Insider” and its flaws become apparent.

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However, compare “Spotlight” to “Ray Donovan,” which returns for a fourth season on Showtime in July, and the differences become stark. Series creator Ann Biderman explores every aspect of the loneliness, dysfunction, moral decay, and the psychological and physical damage of the Donovan clan, by tracing it all back to an abusive priest, and a narcissistic father who turned a blind eye to it. The actors (Liev Schreiber, Eddie Marsan, Dash Mihok) superbly simmer with unspoken rage, and all of their life choices are informed by their experience.

“Spotlight” exists to blame the church, which is facile and exhibits no dramatic daring. “Ray Donovan” shows the devastation that abuse delivers, by wrapping it around a genre show.

The abuse Ray suffered informs his activities and occupation. His overarching goal is to protect others, especially those who are too reckless and foolish to behave responsibly. He’s constantly trying to fix things to prevent others from becoming victims. It isn’t just that they have put themselves in a given situation, but that others will use that information for exploitation. It is that exploitation that Ray cannot abide, for obvious reasons. Yet on occasion, he will wear the mask of his own oppressor by exploiting others in the service of protecting a client.

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And like all great obsessives, it is Ray’s own nuclear family that suffers by putting his clients first.

Meanwhile, Ray’s brother Terry was a boxer and is now a trainer, suffering from Parkinson’s. The subtext is obvious — Terry is a fighter who broke the fingers of the same priest who tried to abuse him. Youngest brother Bunchy is a child inside a man’s body, having suffered the worst of the abuse, unable to care for himself and drowning himself in alcohol. Ray suffers terrible guilt from not being able to protect Bunchy, further informing his occupation.

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But at the center of this maelstrom is Jon Voight’s portrayal of Donovan patriarch, Mickey. A crude narcissist, he turned a blind eye to his children’s care and their suffering by running drugs for a Boston mobster. It was his neglect that opened the door to abuse.

“Spotlight” has a good shot at winning Best Picture, or at least Best Original Screenplay, probably splitting those awards with “The Big Short.” Hollywood loves to bash religion and big business. While there are no questions regarding the Church’s culpability in the abuse scandal, or that of the housing and banking industries in the financial crisis, Hollywood voters will make the PC choice to go after its two favorite targets.

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Meanwhile, the Emmy Awards have completely ignored “Ray Donovan,” except for nominations for Schreiber and Voight, despite its vastly more textured exploration of the same topic. The Oscars grab more headlines than the Emmys, so that’s not terribly surprising. What it says is that the Academy is more interested in awarding an easy win to advance its political agenda than doing anything that actually would call attention to the deeper wounds caused by the same issue.

Hollywood loves to point fingers, but actually addressing human concerns, is beyond its — or the Left’s —capabilities.