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Archive for December 27th, 2008

Doubt

December 27th, 2008 | Category: Opinions

So, Doubt is definitely the flat-out best theatrical film I’ve seen all year. I was really excited over the trailer, but the actual film blew me away.

Based on a stage play of the same name, Doubt takes place in 1964 and is the story of a rather brutal Catholic nun, Sister Aloysius, and the very personable Father Flynn. Sister Aloysius is the principal at a Bronx Catholic school, a school which she runs with an iron-fist. Every single student palpably fears her, and her sister nuns are equally obedient toward her rules. Father Flynn, however, is a rather progressive priest and school teacher. He believes in a warmer, friendlier Catholic Church. Sister Aloysius doesn’t like this one bit, she doesn’t trust his methods, or his motives. So, when she discovers Father Flynn taking a private interest in a young boy, the school’s first and only black student, she immediately decides that the relationship is abusive and cause for Father Flynn’s removal. The crux of the situation is that she has absolutely no proof beyond her personal certainty and the circumstantial, while he ultimately has no proof to refute her.

The film’s such a fascinating examination of faith and the lengths that one will go to in order to protect and justify said faith. It’s also a spectacular metaphor for the fact that life doesn’t always have clear-cut answers, nothing is black or white, but rather endless shades of gray. It makes us look into the idea that morality is a very relative thing.

Meryl Streep is absolutely brilliant as Sister Aloysius, she literally made me tear up, as she delivered her dialogue so perfectly. Phillip Seymour Hoffman is also outstanding as Father Flynn. I could easily see the film again right now.

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