There is no doubt that Doubt will be a heavyweight when it comes to this year's awards season. The film, directed by the author of the play it is based on, John Patrick Shanley, is the telling of life within the cloistered walls of a Catholic school in the 1960's and what happens when a priest is accused of giving "special" attention to the school's only African-American student.
Meryl Streep proves to once again be the queen of accents as Sister Aloysius, the no nonsense principal of the school. She is the kind of nun that gives shudders to those brought up in the parochial schools of yesteryear. Her counterpart, Sister James (Amy Adams), is young, intimidated more than intimidating, and more than willing to ease up on the ancient rules and allow some of the secular culture of the times inside.
That world comes through soon enough when Father Flynn (Philip Seymour Hoffman) is noticed giving special attention to altar boy Donald Miller (Joseph Foster II). What follows is Sister Aloysius's one nun crusade to have Father Flynn removed from the school, regardless of her lack of evidence as to the exact nature of the relationship between priest and student. In a conversational scene between Sister Aloysius and Donald's mother, Viola Davis proves that when it comes to Oscar nominated performances, sometimes it is not the amount of screen time you have, but what you do with it. It is one of the most powerful and heartrending scenes I've ever encountered on the big screen.
That said, this is a hard movie to digest and recommend. It is not only the uncomfortableness of the subject matter, but the way in which it is presented. No clear answers are given, one is able to make their own judgements, and undoubtedly will. There is a reason Shanley's play won the Pulitzer Prize; it is thought provoking, engaging, and highly well written. While the look and design of the film help bring the decade it represents to life, it is more for the performances that makes this a film worthy of watching.
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