“Doubt can be a bond as powerful and as sustaining as certainty.”
With faith comes doubt. Yet, in doubt lies suspicion, the potential for deceit, and the temptation to act wrongfully. Undeniably, the propensity to question personal beliefs, the people around us, and mankind in general is human nature. However, being uninformed and doubtful allows the human mind to wander and curiosity to mushroom. With that said, the only weapons to combat doubt are trust and/or investigation.
In 1964, as Father Brendan Flynn (Philip Seymour Hoffman) delivers a revealing sermon about doubt and then calls Donald Miller (Joseph Foster) – St. Nicholas School’s first Negro child – down to the rectory for a private meeting, a blustering wind of skepticism and mistrust is set into motion. First, Sister James (Amy Adams) informs her superior, Principal Sister Aloysius Beauvier (Meryl Streep), of Flynn’s questionable action. Then, Sister Aloysius observes additional signs that quickly set her into investigative mode. Determined to uncover an unjust relationship between Father and child, Sister Aloysius vies to bring down the man responsible — no matter the consequence.
Based on his Broadway play that ran for more than a year with 525 performances, writer/director John Patrick Shanley takes on the task of transferring his work from stage to celluloid. In doing so, Shanley proves that a great story is great regardless of the medium in which it’s presented. What’s more, considering the play won the 2005 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and four Tony awards, expectations are high for Doubt to garner additional awards. Given its end-of-year release-date, thematic material, and ensemble acting, Doubt is deservingly prime Oscar bait.
Had Doubt been miscast, the production may have been dismissed as a stagy, undeveloped work. Nevertheless, the foursome of faultless actors elevates the poetic, dramatic, and cinematic ambiance that lies between the lines of the script. Streep, Hoffman, Adams, and Davis are all superb.
Article comments
1 - Roxanne
My god, are you for real! Your first paragraph queued me in to something very insightdful in this review!
Without certainty, no doubt your review was one of the best takes on the movie that I have read so far. Thank you! Now I believe again...until perhaps doubt begins to set in again.