Doubt (2008) * * * 1/2

Directed by:  John Patrick Shanley

Starring:  Meryl Streep, Amy Adams, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Viola Davis, Joseph Foster II

Father Flynn (Hoffman) speaks to his congregation at St. Nicholas church in the Bronx circa fall of 1964.  The nation is still reeling from the death of President Kennedy the previous year, and Father Flynn discusses how doubt can be as unifying as certainty in troubled times.   Sister Aloysius (Streep), the stern, unyielding principal of the St. Nicholas School, suspects there may be a personal reason why Father Flynn sermonized on the subject of doubt.   We gradually learn Sister Aloysius has no patience for the modernization of the Catholic Church or ballpoint pens, and Father Flynn represents such progressive thinking she detests.   Sister asks her nuns to be on the lookout for anything suspicious going on around the school, and suspicion comes from the lips of timid Sister James (Adams), who saw the school's only African American child Donald Miller (Foster II) summoned to Father Flynn's office and return to class seemingly frightened and with alcohol on his breath. 

That's all Sister Aloysius needs to hear.   Father Flynn is guilty of some sort of unspeakable misdeed with the child, and all but accuses Father Flynn of molesting the child while meeting ostensibly to discuss the school's annual Christmas pageant, especially when it comes to light about the alcohol.  Father Flynn defends himself, provides a reasonable explanation for what happened, which Sister James finds believable but only further stokes Sister Aloysius to dig further.    In a world of doubt, she is certain of Father Flynn's guilt.   Her meeting with Donald's mother (Davis) brings about new revelations about "the boy's nature", implying that Donald is homosexual and is beaten at home by his father because of it.   

Doubt is tense and suspenseful throughout without providing a payoff as to whether Father Flynn is innocent or guilty.   He knows any scandal will besmirch his reputation and possibly expel him from the priesthood, which is something he must consider as Sister Aloysius drags him further out into deeper, darker waters.   Father Flynn is one of the few who show Donald, as the school's first African American student, any kind of support and compassion.   Sister Aloysius advises Sister James not to be too compassionate when dealing with her class, because they'll run all over her.    Is this a case of Old Testament vs. New as the Vatican deals with radical reforms on the eve of the Vietnam War?

Doubt, with its depiction of harsh winds and storms as the conflict plays out, tends to be overly symbolic and preachy when it isn't needed.   ("The winds are changing"), but the performances are the key to propelling what could have been overwrought melodrama into a thoughtful film which warrants discussion.  What's left is challenging.   Who do we believe?   It would be easy to label Sister Aloysius the villain and Father Flynn the hero, but that would rob Doubt of its power, because we see how both are right and both are wrong.   And the character we can most identify with is Sister James, who can only view the battle between right and wrong and old vs. new with fear, confusion, and hopelessness.  

The final exchange between Sister James and Sister Aloysius ends the film on the correct note, and we see Sister James remaining true to herself while Sister Aloysius shows a hint of doubt for the first time.  Powerful stuff.