Doubt

Based on John Patrick Shanley's Pulitzer winning play, Doubt stars Meryl Streep and Philip Seymore Hoffman. Set in the Bronx in 1964, the story focuses on the struggle between Hoffman's character Father Flynn who is trying to modernize the church and the school's principal, Sister Aloysius, played by Streep who rules with an iron fist and is desperately trying to hold onto the old ways. As her mistrust of the priest grows she accuses him of molesting the school's only black student. While there is no firm evidence, she is tenacious and will not let the issue drop. Amy Adams plays a young nun who at first accuses Father Flynn then believes he is innocent and that the Sister is out to get him. Viola Davis makes an amazing turn as the young boy's mother.

While the acting in this film is amazing, and the subject matter well treated, the movie somehow under delivers. As is often the case with an adaptation of a play, the movie seems small. It's as if the film makers did not take full advantage of their medium and played out the stage story with a few extra sets and some nice exteriors. There are some great twists in this film and of course as the title suggests you left to make up your own mind on what really happened. One question we all asked as we left the film, did Sister Aloysius suspect the wrong boy was being molested?