At the Movies

Review: The patina of 'Doubt'

A tall and stern-looking nun, dressed all in black, stealthily moves up and down the aisles, searching out and disciplining talkative teenagers who stiffen up like starched shirts, resuming the postures of obedience that Sister Aloysius demands.

By Anne Kirby

In the film "Doubt," actors Meryl Streep and Philip Seymour Hoffmann, who play the parts of a nun and priest, square off against one another in a battle for the truth that pits certainty against ambiguity and sends one of the two fleeing for cover.

Adapted from John Patrick Shanley's Pulitzer Prize-winning play, the film owes its success to Shanley's talent as a sensitive writer and perceptive director.

Meryl Streep and Philip Seymour Hoffmann in "Doubt"

His understanding of the subtleties of deceit has resulted in a dramatic, suspenseful, on-the-edge film that provides insight into a cunning power struggle the likes of which has not been seen since director Steven Zaillian's 1998 film, "A Civil Action".

"Doubt" takes us back to the year 1964 to a small and protected Roman Catholic parish in the Bronx in New York City. Here the St. Nicholas parishoners entrust their souls to the care of Father Flynn (Hoffmann) and their children to the disciplined care of the good nuns who teach in the parish school, which is headed up by a feisty principal, named Sister Aloyisius (Streep).

In the film's opening scene, the towering figure of Father Flynn looms high over his congregation. As he stands high in the pulpit, wearing the colorful vestments of a priest, his arms are outstretched, embracing his parishioners in thoughts about "doubt"  which is his topic of choice for a weekly sermon.

             See the movie trailer for "Doubt"

At the same time, a tall and stern-looking nun, dressed in black, stealthily moves up and down the church aisles, seeking to  discipline talkative teenagers who, at the very sight of the nun, stiffen up like starched shirts to resume the posture of obedience that Sister Aloysius demands.

Later that evening, Sister Aloysius sits down to dinner with a small group of fellow sisters.  Belonging to the same sacred order as Sister ALouisius, these hardworking nuns' lives are center upon the parish school where they teach.   The group is unusualy solemn and no one dares speak without a signal from her. It's easy to discern who's in charge here at the table and elsewhere.

Addressing the topic of Father Flynn's sermon, in which he compared doubt to faith - inferring that both have an equal and unifying effect upon Catholics - Sister Aloysius concludes her discussion telling the nuns that something is amiss with the priest's character.

In her learned, religious mind faith precludes doubt, whereas doubt is indicative of one's failure to grasp and hold firmly to faith in God.

"Doubt" is a cathartic and important film that reconfirms the values of faith, goodness, truth and the power of redemption that results when honesty and truth are unwaveringly faced instead of being hidden behind tightly wound veils of doubt.

Blessed with a moral stamina that supercedes doubt, Sister Aloysius adamantly warns the nuns to be on the lookout for behaviors that would prove her suspicions of Father Flynn correct.

Shortly afterward, the parish's youngest nun, Sister James (Amy Adams), presents Sister Aloysius with the information she is seeking.

Having received a message from Father Flynn requesting that Sister James send her student, Donald Miller (Joseph Foster) to him at the church rectory, she obeys.

Donald is an altar boy who was appointed by Father Flynn.  The boy also represents the 1960s decade of school desegregation in the United States: he is the parish school's first black student.

Upon the boy's return to class, Sister James senses he is disturbed. She further discovers that Donald has the distinct smell of wine on his breath.

Once informed, Sister Aloysius runs with the evidence that Sister James has provided her.  She wastes no time and accepts no excuses in a preliminary discussion with Father Flynn where he defends himself casting blame on the young student, telling her that Donald Miller had stolen the wine from the church.

Through a false mask of sympathy for the boy, Father Flynn goes on to say that he is concealing his errant behavior in order to protect him from losing his revered position as a parish altar boy.

Playing the hero, Father Flynn tells Sister Aloysius that things would be best for all if he and the boy were left to resolve the problem, together.

But Sister Aloysius is not easily swayed. She is a stern nun and even sterner disciplinarian whose experience sets her up as an enlightened judge and shepherding protector of her students. As the school principal, it is she who  must discern the truth and  protect Donald Miller from Father Flynn.

Soon afterward, while teaching dance to a group of young students in the church basement, Sister James inadvertently views Father Flynn placing an undershirt into the boy's church locker.

Once alerted, Sister Aloysius engages Father Flynn in another discussion where she questions him about the suspicious undershirt which turns out to have belonged to Donald. Placing the priest on her symbolic stand, in her office, she becomes judge and jury to one of the most outstanding, mock courtroom dramas I have ever witnessed on the screen.

Redeemed by an unflinching belief in a higher moral order, Sister Aloysius picks up the gavel and bears down hard on the recalcitrant priest. Not knowing for certain how high the deck is stacked against him, Father Flynn odiously vies with the sister in a poker game where he attempts to one-up her, playing the trump card as a  higher ranking parish official.

In the midst of a heated argument -- and a scene that goes on for at least 10 minutes -- Father Flynn awkwardly and somewhat obsesssively stops all communication,  walks over to Sister Aloysius's desk and begins to write down notes. When asked to explain his arrogance, he blurts out the word "intolerance" to which he then adds in, as if pontificating,  that this is the subject he's chosen for his next sermon.

Startled and fed up by his antics, Sister Aloysius moves into  battle mode positioning herself against the priest's hierarchic stance as she presents a de facto argument that's so intensely delivered it would beat out the slickest criminal lawyer in Washington, DC.

Ironically, throughout the film, Sister Aloysius propheticaly repeats the refrain  "when man is doing God's work on earth, God steps out of the way."   In the end these words ring true for Sister Aloysius, who goes out on a limb with her well contrived and condemning accusation which sends the priest packing in fear of  the retribution of the guilt and the shame he knows awaits him.

Although Sister Aloysius rids the church of an suspected pederast, in her heart she realizes the pain that power carries.

"Doubt" is a cathartic and important film that reconfirms the values of faith, goodness, truth and the power of redemption that results when honesty and truth are unwaveringly faced instead of being hidden behind tightly wound veils of doubt.