DVD review: Doubt

This is a hugely impressive film with some of the most masterful acting I have seen in a long time. It was adapted by director John Patrick Shanley from his own stage play and there are certainly signs of its theatrical roots – a limited number of characters and locations, an emphasis on dialogue and character, heavy on words rather than action. Two important verbal clashes between Meryl Streep and Philip Seymour Hoffman’s characters lasted 10 or 15 minutes each, both taking place within the confines of a single office, and the majority of the scenes are similarly wordy, slow-paced, and in-depth. However, none of this is to the detriment of the film. Instead, it draws the audience into the claustrophobic confines of its world – a Catholic school in New York, 1964 – and makes its central dilemma hit home all the harder.


At the film’s heart is a titanic battle of wills between fearsomely straight-laced nun Sister Aloysius (Streep) and popular priest Father Flynn (Hoffman). Sister Aloysius suspects Father Flynn of molesting a young altar boy, the school’s first black pupil. With no conclusive proof, and expecting no help from the male-dominated church hierarchy, she sets out on a personal crusade to get him to confess. But is she merely motivated by her intense dislike of him and his modernising ways?

Shanley refuses to give any easy answers. He has reportedly never told anyone whether Father Flynn was guilty other than Hoffman and the actor who took the part in the stage version. The audience sympathises most fully with the character of Sister James (Amy Adams), and innocent young nun who finds herself torn between Sister Aloysius’ certainty and her own unwillingness to judge anyone without proof. Father Flynn is in many ways the more appealing character – he is in favour of a more open and approachable church and encourages Sister James in her kind-heartedness and love of teaching, while Sister Aloysius terrifies the children and bans sweets, ballpoint pens and ‘pagan’ songs such as Frosty the Snowman. Yet there is something admirable about her fierce dedication to her beliefs, her determination to be the lone voice standing up against what she believes to be a terrible crime. Much of the film’s power comes from Shanley’s refusal to give closure on this awful dilemma.

Special mention should also be given to Viola Davis, who gives a terrific performance in her single scene as the mother of the boy at the centre of the scandal. Her reaction to Sister Aloysius’ suspicions is one of the most heart-breaking parts of the film