ARE YOU CERTAIN, OR DO YOU HAVE DOUBTS?
It’s the year 1964. Sister Aloysius, principal of a Catholic school in the Bronx, runs a tight ship. Times are changing and standards slipping, she feels; the only antidote is strong discipline. Most of the students are terrified of Sister Aloysius, and that’s the way she wants things. Contrast her character with that of Sister James, a young nun who believes learning can be an exhilarating experience and tries to fill her classroom with joyfulness. Contrast both sisters with Father Flynn, a young, outgoing priest who loves his congregation and has sympathy for the students. Here we have all the ingredients for a collision course, and that’s exactly what we get in Doubt – in my view, one of the best pictures this year. Too bad it didn’t get a Best Picture nomination.
Here’s the key characteristic of Sister Aloysius: she’s absolutely certain about everything. One day Sister James observes Father Flynn in an action which might be inappropriate: he puts his hands on the head of Donald, the first black student in the school. Sister James reports this action to Sister Aloysius, and it isn’t long before the fireworks begin. Sister Aloysius is absolutely certain that a wrong has been committed and will stop at nothing, including lying and blackmail, to right this wrong. She arranges a confrontation in which she bullies Father Flynn with the question “What did you do to that boy?” Father Flynn reluctantly responds that Donald was caught drinking the altar wine and that he merely wished to protect him from incrimination and exacerbation of his already difficult situation: he is the only black child in a white school and is basically friendless. Sister Aloysius, of course, will not accept this; she’s too offended by Flynn’s lack of decorum in, for example, taking three sugars in his tea and keeping his nails long. Aloysius soon arranges a meeting with Donald’s mother, during which the mother tells the sister that her son does have some unfortunate “tendencies.” This closes the sale for Aloysius, who immediately begins agitating for Flynn’s removal.
Doubt was directed by John Patrick Shanley, who also adapted the screenplay from his own Doubt: A Parable, which won the 2005 Tony award for best drama. The acting is uniformly excellent: Meryl Streep plays Sister Aloysius, Philip Seymour Hoffman Father Flynn, Amy Adams Sister James, and Viola Davis Mrs. Miller, Donald’s mother. It is sometimes said that if we hate the character portrayed by an actor, that actor has done a creditable job. Well, I hated the character of Sister Aloysius. Streep is nothing short of brilliant.
Doubt gives no easy answers; in fact, it gives no clear answers at all as to what really happened or whether or not Father Flynn is guilty. The recent sexual abuse scandals involving Catholic priests are part of the backdrop of the picture but not its main focus. The film is really about the interaction of doubt, faith, and certainty and might seem at first glance to be suggesting that doubt and faith are at odds. Shanley appears to be saying the opposite: that doubt and faith go hand in hand, and there is a pernicious danger in slavish adherence to certainty. As Proverbs 3:7 says, we are not to be wise in our own eyes.
This movie will make you think, at the very least.
Film Rating: PG-13
My Rating: 3 ½ stars
Highly Recommended
I can’t resist some brief comments about Slumdog Millionaire, which recently won the Academy Award for Best Picture: In a nutshell, Slumdog is about Jamal, a young Muslim man (and an orphan) from Mumbai, India, who is on the verge of answering the final question in India’s version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. The show’s producers have him arrested, though, because they think a “slumdog“ like Jamal could not be this knowledgeable and therefore must have cheated. In a series of flashbacks during the police interrogation, Jamal recounts events in his life that illustrate how he knew the answers to the questions. This riveting and touching movie is one of the most original pictures in some time.
HOWEVER: Strong cautionary note: It is rated R, is quite violent, and is not appropriate for children or younger teenagers.
My Rating: 3 ½ stars.
Highly Recommended
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