Review: Doubt

Grade: A
Director: John Patrick Shanley
Starring: Meryl Streep, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams, Viola Davis

John Patrick Shanley’s adaptation of his Pulitzer Prize-winning play is a marvel to behold. The film is deceptively simple, as all great stories are, but there are layers upon layers lurking underneath. Like “A Streetcar Named Desire” and “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” – two other Pulitzer Prize winners successfully adapted into film – “Doubt” features a quartet of masterful performances that transport viewers into an alternate reality, a reality that exposes the human capacity for evil as if reflected on a funhouse mirror. The very best of humanity and the very worst are displayed in equal measure, and no one is spared in the process. This is a spectacular adaptation and one of the best films of the year.

The Plot

Set in 1964 at a Catholic school in the Bronx, recently arrived Father Flynn (played enigmatically by Philip Seymour Hoffman) butts heads with Sister Aloysius Beauvier (played exuberantly by the legendary Streep). The progressive priest’s opening sermon, on the issue of doubt, along with his interaction with some of the male students pique the curiosity of Sister Aloysius, a traditionalist who has seen it all before. Sister Aloysius, it seems, is biding her time, waiting for the opportunity to pounce and get rid of this troublemaking upstart who would not flinch at the prospect of including “Frosty the Snowman” in the school’s Christmas pageant. This opportunity materializes in the form of Sister James (a moving Amy Adams).

Sister James is an idealistic young history teacher, and one wonders if Sister Aloysius was at one time as carefree and as vulnerable. Alternately, I also wondered whether Sister James would end up exactly as Sister Aloysius, something that seems inevitable. This is an admittedly well-worn theatrical device but, to Shanley’s credit, it is executed elegantly by the actresses.

Donald Miller (played effectively by Joseph Foster) is one of the students in Sister James’ class. Miller is the only African-American student in the school. An altar boy at the beginning of the film, he has forged a bond with Father Flynn, who serves as a sort of protector and father figure. After Donald is called to Father Flynn’s rectory and returns visibly upset, Sister James reaches out to Sister Aloysius. Even though she keeps one particularly disconcerting (or perfectly innocent) incident where Flynn placed Donald’s shirt back in his locker, Sister Aloysius goes into action immediately, spending the rest of the film trying to get to the bottom of the true nature of Father Flynn’s relationship with Donald Miller.

I will not say more about the story other than these operative facts. But what follows is a clash of titanic proportions, an epic battle between Sister Aloysius and Father Flynn. These confrontations may be just about the conflict between a vindictive nun and an idealistic young priest, but they might as well be about the past against the future, progressive ideas in opposition to traditional ones, right versus wrong. Naturally, there are casualties to these battles, the question is whether there were more than there should have been.

The Performances

Hoffman, an irascible chameleon, plays Father Flynn as a man in conflict with the world. He wants to bring progressive ideas into the church, yet chastises Sister Aloysius if she breaks the chain of command. He proclaims he has nothing to hide, but almost every word that comes out of his mouth is vague and ambiguous. This hesitation adds to our suspicions, and Hoffman only lets us in for small glimpses, so we’re left where we began, and our only recourse is to reconstruct the puzzle and try to put the damning and vindicating pieces together. To watch Hoffman and Streep go at it in their various confrontations is one of the reasons the medium was created – they are magnetic and enthralling. His is a complex performance, well worth all the attention it has attracted.

Adams, a charming and gifted actor, excels as Sister James. Like the great Sandy Dennis in “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” she’s saddled with a role that is more a symbol than a multi-dimensional character, but, like Dennis, Adams instills Sister James with complexities that go well beyond the written page. Similarly, Viola Davis, who plays Donald Miller's mom, does the impossible with a limited amount of time. She crafts a character that is simultaneously sympathetic and reprehensible. Davis’ Ms. Miller is a tortured soul, a mother who wants to see her son succeed so badly that she is willing to put him in dangerous situations. The hope is that his future will be that much brighter, even if he has to suffer as the first African-American child at the school, or worse. There is not one false note in Davis’ intelligent, unforgettable performance.

And then there’s Streep’s Sister Aloysius – in a characterization that is not so much a performance, but a master class. Much has been written about her performance, which, to my amazement has not been universally lauded. This is one of the best (if not the best) performances of the year. Streep is in her element – she stalks every scene with a self-assurance and a sense of superiority that is frightening. The children are terrified of her and this is precisely what she expects and thrives on.

Yet the same nun that can drag out an unruly child by his collar can lovingly help an elderly nun eat her meal. Sister Aloysius is kind to her fellow nuns and a willing, if cold, mentor to young Sister James. Sister Aloysius is tender and funny, obsessive and judgmental – she is human and therefore flawed. Streep expertly paints a portrait of one of the most interesting, palpably rich characters ever brought to the screen. Sister Aloysius will stay with you long after you’ve seen the film.

Overall

Aesthetically, there is no denying that this is a stage adaptation – but Shanley has a good eye (even if that eye is a bit too enamored of lopsided camera angles) and a steady hand with his actors. The film looks beautiful and I enjoyed many of the theatrical excesses – especially the wind motif, a poetic image that grows darker as we slowly begin to realize what it symbolizes. But this is an acting showcase first and foremost, and for that accomplishment alone, it is one of the best films of the year.

Streep is so good at what she does that I caught myself chuckling more often than not at her ingenuity and her obvious joy in doing what she does, not to mention the fact that Sister Aloysius is often very funny. Please excuse my hyperbole, but this is what it must have felt to watch Mozart compose or Van Gogh paint. This is the stuff of greatness. Streep, quite simply, cannot stop topping herself and we’re much better off for it.