Genre: Director: John Patrick Shanley
Starring: Meryl Streep, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams, Viola Davis
Time: 104 minutes (plus trailers)
John Patrick Shanley’s adaptation of his own play is without a doubt (get it…doubt) one of the best films of 2008…or 2009, depending on what country you live in. The film follows Sister Aloysius, a strict conservative nun played by Meryl Streep who becomes convinced that Father Flynn, the progressive parish priest, sexually assaulted an African American student who attends the church run school. This is a film that was obviously adapted from a play; it has very few locations, and sometimes scenes will go on for as long as ten minutes with nothing but people talking. Doubt is one of two recently released films to be based on plays, the other being Ron Howard’s Frost/Nixon, but where Howard’s film felt padded out, the drawn out structure of this movie only adds to the tension and the doubt the audience feels, and gives this amazing cast chance after chance to showcase their talents. I was captivated by both the leads, and found myself wanting the final confrontation between Sister Aloysius and Father Flynn to go on forever. Amy Adams is also great as the youthful, innocent and perhaps slightly naïve Sister James, and Davis, despite only really appearing in one scene, nearly manages to upstage Streep as the mother of the boy in question.
Shanley’s direction is also very good. Obviously, as the writer of the original play as well as this screen version, he is very close to the source material. The movie was very deliberately filmed in autumn and winter to add to the growing feeling of menace, as does the symbolic use of the wind and rain. My only criticism would be that he sometimes would place the camera at an angle for no apparent reason, which could be quite distracting; personally, I think that he would have been better to rely solely on the strength of the actors and the script, which is also fantastic. The best thing about the film though, as the name suggests, is the feeling of doubt that it creates. Meryl Streeps character believes with such conviction that Father Flynn is guilty, and yet throughout the film, and perhaps even after is finishes, the audience will find themselves unsure as to what really happened in the rectory (which, by the way, may be one of the worst lines in cinema history.) Interestingly, before I saw the film I just assumed that he was guilty, as all the trailers I had seen seemed to suggest. In reality, the film is far more ambiguous, which is probably its greatest strength. See this movie with a group of people, and then discuss. Then again, if you can’t find anyone to see it with, see it by yourself, as this film is not to be missed. Hell, I’ll see it again with you!
Doubt opens in Australia on the 15th of January
