MESSAGE IN THE MOVIES

Doubt Rated PG-13

Directed by John Patrick Shanley. Starring Meryl Streep, Philip Seymour Hoffman

Photo © Miramax
Movie Review by Rev. Bruce Batchelor Glader

It is 1964 and there is much change in the air.  The assassination of President Kennedy the year before (with the Cuban missile crisis a few years before that) has continued the age of anxiety begun with the dropping of the atomic bomb and followed by the Cold War.  The Civil Rights Act has just been passed, guaranteeing equal rights for all people. The Second Vatican Council is bringing the Catholic Church into the modern age and, in an inner city parish in the Bronx, a war of wills is being waged against progressive Father Flynn (Hoffman) and the principal of the parish school, Sister Aloysius (Streep). 

While Sister Aloysius runs the school with an iron will, Father Flynn shoots baskets with the boys and is inclined to think that perhaps this might be the year to introduce a secular song into their annual Christmas program.  Father Flynn has the high ground of authority from the church, but Sister Aloysius has been in the parish longer; neither is going to back down.   This is not the place for an innocent and naïve person to venture, but that is precisely what young Sister James (Amy Adams) does when she intimates that there may be reason to suspect that Father Flynn has more than a casual interest in Donald Miller (Joseph Foster II), the only black student in the school. 

Accusations and assumptions will be made on all sides, and the truth of the matter will never quite be known for sure.  I have never seen the Pulitzer Prize winning play on which Doubt has been based but, listening to the clever (and often witty) dialogue of the film, I was sure that writer-director Shanley had indeed written a perceptive tale for our times. 

In a media-saturated culture, an accusation is virtually the same thing as guilt, and misinformation can simply be dealt with by issuing a disclaimer a few days later.  Power is also used to do cruel things and authority struggles get in the way of accomplishing good.  The dialogue hits all of the right marks and the script respects the intelligence of the audience.  You cannot cast Meryl Streep in a part, however, and expect a fair fight. Streep dominates every scene that she is in, and Shanley’s heavy-handed direction (with tilted cameras, blowing leaves and popping light bulbs) makes her the star of the show. 

It’s not that there aren’t other good performances – the cast is exceptional and, besides Seymour Hoffman and Adams, Viola Davis (as Donald’s mother) and the young cast do their best with the script.  But Father Flynn is kept on the defensive for the whole film, which muted the impact of the story for me.  Still, this film is well worth viewing with a group ready to discuss its topics afterwords. As Pontius Pilate once asked “What is truth?”  (John 18:38)  And, if you recall the story, to this question Jesus makes no reply.

Pitchfork Rating: Three halos . (A thought-provoking moral tale.)
Two pitchforks (Mild swearing, many dark accusations.)

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