Vintage

Doubt was a very good movie but I have my doubts.  There is no doubting the power of the acting in the movie.  It features world class talents such as the always engaging Philip Seymour Hoffman and the legendary Meryl Streep.  These two are great to watch squaring off against one another.  Call it dueling actors.  Problem is that I found that—this acting match up—the most interesting thing about the movie.  This story could not carry lesser names and get away with it. 

Doubt is a 2008 film adaptation of a John Patrick Shanley stage play Doubt: A Parable. Written and directed by Shanley and produced by Scott Rudin, the film centers around a priest, Father Flynn (Hoffman).  Flynn has a "very close" relationship with a black boy in an all-white Catholic school. This raises the suspicions of a domineering principal, Sister Aloysius (Streep), and the more innocent Sister James (Amy Adams).

There is an incident with the boy coming away from the Father Flynn's chambers with wine on his breath, which leads to the witch hunt for Flynn's consciousness by Sister Aloysius.  In other scenes, I guess he is simply too nice to the boy. 

The thing about it is that there was nothing overly persuasive in my mind about why Father Flynn would be deemed to have acted improper.  The most he ever did was give the kid a hug. But, Father Flynn was nice in a traditional school, which was not. 

The poor kid turned out to be a gay boy and the reason he was sent to the Catholic school, as his mother explained, was because he would be "killed in a public school."   Really?  You mean gay kids can't survive in a public school? They are steered to institutions like Catholic schools becuase you can't be gay in a public school? 

There is a lot of theatrical grandstanding in Doubt and I guess you'll have that in a movie pulled from a stage script.  However, I still think the film was a one trick pony.  The story as a whole raised one significant question: did Father Flynn molest the boy?  It did not necessarily answer the question.  It simply left us with Doubt, as promised, as advertised and as delivered. 

I don't have major issues with the film, just a few minor ones.  I wanted to know if the allegations levied against Father Flynn were true one way or another.  I wanted resolution, or perhaps absolution would have been a better term considering the church theme.  Also, why was this movie put in the 60s?  Was this based on a true story?  The material does not strike me an interesting enough to go back in time for?  Why not present day? My theory is that it would draw too many uncomfortable reminders of the problems the Catholic Church has experienced in the 2000s.    

Rightly so, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams, and Viola Davis, were all nominated for Oscars at the 2009 ceremonies. It premiered on October 30, 2008 at the AFI Fest before being distributed by Miramax Films in limited release on December 12, 2008 and in a wide release on Christmas Day. It's a great movie, but I have my doubts.