Doubt (2008)

Release date: 2008-12-25
Country: USA
Language: English
Director: John Patrick Shanley
Production Co: Goodspeed Productions, Scott Rudin Productions
Genre: Drama, Mystery
Rating: 7.5/10
Length: 1h 44min

Storyline

It's 1964, St. Nicholas in the Bronx. A charismatic priest, Father Flynn, is trying to upend the school's strict customs, which have long been fiercely guarded by Sister Aloysius Beauvier, the iron-gloved Principal who believes in the power of fear-based discipline. The winds of political change are sweeping through the community, and indeed, the school has just accepted its first black student, Donald Miller. But when Sister James, a hopeful innocent, shares with Sister Aloysius her guilt-inducing suspicion that Father Flynn is paying too much personal attention to Donald, Sister Aloysius sets off on a personal crusade to unearth the truth and to expunge Flynn from the school. Now, without a shard of proof besides her moral certainty, Sister Aloysius locks into a battle of wills with Father Flynn which threatens to tear apart the community with irrevocable consequences.

Plot Keywords

ambiguity, cigarette smoking, eating, crying, black american, accusation, christian, religious fanatic, surprise ending, based on play, year 1964, doubt, teacher student relationship, altar boy, sermon, abused child, ambiguous ending, church, religion, religious statue

Short Review

The moral grey area of the title perhaps worked better in the stage play; exposed on screen it's not "doubt" being expressed, it's the sound of Streep's headmistressy voice demanding, "That Oscar - on my desk, NOW."