Just watched...

...John Patrick Shanley's "Doubt" starring Meryl Streep, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams, and Viola Davis.


Adapted from his 2004 Pulitzer Prize-winning [2005] play of the same name, playwright John Patrick Shanley wrote the script for this film adaptation as well as directing it himself. What director would know the material and intention better than the playwright and screenwriter?

In New York in 1964, Sister Aloysius, a bitter, rigid nun accuses Father Flynn, her parish priest, of having had sexual contact with a student at a Catholic school. The catch: she has absolutely no proof, just circumstantial evidence and hearsay that she has stitched together into an inflammatory narrative. Like a pit bull, Sister Aloysius’ jaws lock onto Father Flynn’s leg and she vows not to let go until she brings him down.

What follows is a fascinating and tense journey through innuendo, possibility, gossip, assumption, and accusation. Sister James, a younger nun under Sister Aloysius’ wing, doubts that Flynn is guilty. Aloysius doubts that Flynn is telling the truth when he proclaims his innocence. Flynn doubts he can survive Aloysius’ vicious personal attack. Did he actually sexually abuse a young man? He denies it, but he does not act like an innocent man. His facial expressions, his body language, point to something deeper. He may not have molested the boy, but that doesn’t mean that the thought did not cross his mind. Philip Seymour Hoffman gives a gorgeous, layered and complex performance brimming with subtext. Of course Streep is her usual masterful self, expertly inhabiting a soul other than her own. Amy Adams is sweet, and Viola Davis measures out a stunning performance in a single scene.

Much like the Coen Borthers’ film “A Serious Man” which I just saw and reviewed a few posts down, “Doubt” is about living without answers or in this case, proof. There is no proof that Father Flynn did anything untoward and barring an actual witness, it is likely that there will be no proof. But Aloysius is not bothered by a lack of answers—until the end of the film. It catches up to her, and one assumes it eats at her like a cancer. We, the viewers are not given any answers either. Perhaps an answer is not needed in this particular story. Shanley hopes to leave us in a state of doubt which is a state of flux, a state that can give birth to change.

And much like the Coen Brothers’ film “A Serious Man,” the religious component to this story is more than just a setting, it is part of its machinations. Whereas our hero in “A Serious Man” yearns for guidance but only gets unhelpful religious parables and stories, Sister Aloysius has taken the parables and stories of her religion as reality, cocooning herself in an illusion. Like I said in my review for “A Serious Man,” religion is only good for a few things like a sense of community and some pretty thoughts. When relied upon for immediate, practical, real-world issues, religion is seen for the empty, man-made, controlling cult it is. Aloysius is a dangerous zealot, convinced of her supreme knowledge. And this is the inherent menace in religion: absolute faith naturally gives birth to zealotry, and zealotry gives birth to righteousness, intolerance, and a vicious conviction that the religious way is the only way.

Sister Aloysius is not happy in her heart, and I can only think of the ancient French motto (which happens to appear on the shield of the royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom), “Honi soit qui mal y pense,” which loosely translated means, “Evil be to him who thinks evil thoughts,” or more aptly, "Shame on you for seeing something bad where there wasn't." If you come from a tradition full of guilt, a tradition that teaches that sin is everywhere, and a tradition that elevates punishment as a core principle, then your sickness will be to see guilt and sin everywhere, even where it is not, even when there is no such thing as sin, and to mete out punishment since everyone is guilty.

Honi soit qui mal y pense. Evil thoughts and assumptions are their own punishment. Ask Sister Aloysius.

Recommend? Yes.