Doubt: Does It Live Up to The Hype?

Doubt (2008)

As part of my weekly movie evening, I stumbled across this particular picture; at start, I was rather skeptical due to the nature of the movie: it discusses the conflict between a nun and a priest in an old-style catholic school.

The Characters:

The main characters are Father Flynn (Philip Seymour Hoffman), Sister Aloysius (Meryl Streep) and Sister James (Amy Adams) and Donald Muller (Joseph Foster).

The Plot

The play is set in the St. Nicholas Church School in the Bronx during the fall of 1964. The movie begins with a sermon on doubt – which, as the movie’s name suggests, is the primary aspect showcased by the picture. All’s well in the world until Father Flynn establishes a relationship with Donald Muller – a relationship which not long after is suspected to abnormal by Sister Aloysius – the conflict revolves around the long-debated problem of catholic priests abusing children. The movie itself has a very small number of turning events compared to most others, in which lies the actual quality – there are a miriad of subtle clues and hints which gives any viewer that pays enough attention a deep understanding of the course of action taken by all sides – the uncertainty of all of their actions is what makes the movie truly impressive.

The Acting

I generally tend to not have expectancies of actors just for their names, and this case is no different. Viewing them as objectively as I could, I found no significant flaws in this respect. All of the characters act very convincingly, and the sense of conflict at some points due to this is very impressive.

More About The Film

The film is adapted after a very successful theatrical play from 2004, written by John Patrick Shanley and directed by Doug Hughes – it had 25 previews and 525 performances up to its closing on July 2, 2006. The four original cast members were Cherry Jones as Sister Aloysius, Brían F. O’Byrne as Father Flynn, Heather Goldenhersh as Sister James, and Adriane Lenox as Mrs. Muller.

Concluding

Most definetely, Doubt is one of the best movies I have seen recently. For being very well played and having a strong and immersive plot, I rank it 10 out of 10 – it’s a must see.

- Ian Vehrmt