Doubt
If you’ve ever just known something to be true, regardless of whether you knew all of the evidence or no, than it’s hard to imagine yourself not identifying with Sister Aloysius Beauvier, the nun who acts as principal at the Catholic school that is the center of the moral battleground in “Doubt,” John Patrick Shanley’s fiery adaptation of his award-winning stageplay.
I’m sure we’ve all been there, when our emotions and intuitions have just pointed to some truth we couldn’t let go of, regardless of what anyone told us to the contrary. I know that I have, and as a result, there’s a part of me that sympathizes with Sister Beauvier (played by the ever-versatile Meryl Streep as a woman whose way of doing things is certainly antiquated, even for 1964- when the story is set- but so ingrained in her as the way things should be that no one can teach this dog a new trick) as much as I would fear her in real-life. Below the surface, the heart of this story- as important to it is the central emotional conundrum- is about the old way of things against the new. Ultimately, this is what the Sister fears about Father Flynn (played by Philip Seymour Hoffman) the most I think, not just the idea that he may have an improper personal relationship with alter boy Donald Muller (Joseph Foster II), the school’s only African-American student. It is true that the best stories are generally about more than they’re letting on- and such is certainly the case with “Doubt.”
In the middle of both of these conflicts is Sister James (Amy Adams), a young nun who wants to inspire her student’s love of history as much as she wants to inspire them to follow God. She represents a more easily-repudiated conflict to Sister Beauvier’s way of running things at St. Nicholas School- since Father Flynn is a higher authority than her, that conflict requires more finesse on her part- and an easily impressionable mind for the elder Sister to mold. Sister James has genuine doubt’s about Sister Beauvier’s conclusions when she brings the matter to her- she only knows that the Father brought Donald out of class to the rectory, and he returned to class acting peculiarly- that places her uneasily in the middle of the conflict between the old-school nun and more modern and empathetic priest. Adams- up until now known best for flighty comedic roles from “Enchanted” to “Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day” to her Oscar-nominated role in “Junebug”- is up to the task of trying to act as a common-sense middle ground between these two unmovable forces.
But the film belongs to Streep and Hoffman (with a major assist by cinematographer Roger Deakins, a master of using lighting to illuminate emotions within the story that cut deep and linger long in the memory), who show the contrasts in their worldviews with their characteristic brilliance, but also go after one another in their big confrontation with the bravado and manner of two acting masters completely committed to their characters, and understanding of their deepest emotions. The scene with them going after one another is the film’s big dramatic catharsis, coupled with an earlier- and equally potent- scene between Sister Beauvier and Donald’s mother (a vividly powerful Viola Davis, who makes the most of her one scene to present a character with motives of her own that go beyond the Sister’s desire for her version of the truth) that also shows that everyone has a motive, and everyone has the boy’s interests at heart, even though one gets the feeling that most of them put their own interests first (including the boy’s mother). In the end, Shanley’s dramatic thunderstorm of a story- on film at least- feels like pure Oscar bait, but unlike past films of similar obvious intentions (“The Hours,” “The English Patient”), there’s enough thematic meat to make up the difference.
