Cast: Meryl Streep, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams

Director: John Patrick Shanley

Screenplay: John Patrick Shanley

Running time: 1 hr 48 mins

Genre: Dramas



CRITIQUE:


If there is a thriller that should be revered in 2008, it should be Doubt. Not that it is genericallly a thriller, but it is a tautly conceived drama, so intense and intellectually enthralling that it could literally pull a whole audience to a full stop and dead quiet. One can also perhaps consider this as war film – but with words as missiles and Meryl Streep and Philip Seymour Hoffman as nuclear machines launching onscreen explosion. There is a confrontation scene between Streep’s bloodcurdling Sister Aloysius and Hoffman’s furious Father Flynn that requires them to let loose a verbal sparring, so tightly choreographed, ferocious and uncompromising that it would make Incredible Hulk and Abominator’s showdown look like fighting toys.


This tale of a spiritual crisis in a Bronx Catholic school, where a priest is suspected of paedophilia (a term you wouldn’t hear being mentioned in the film, but succinctly implied), is utterly beguiling that viewers wouldn’t know who to root for: Father Flynn who’s accused of the God-forsaken debauchery but remains tactfully innocent, or Sister Aloysius whose one woman crusade for the uninstalling of a priest with no weapon other than self-belief and instinct. No proof, no certainty, and we don’t know who’s telling the truth. That’s the genius of John Patrick Shanley’s screenplay and assured direction; he considers St. Nicholas school, ruled by an unswerving draconian fist by Sister Aloysius, as the rink to which this fight befalls and he lets these power-players deliver the punches and have audience watch in awe. Whilst Hoffman nails the ambiguous Flynn (there could be no other finer actor to play this role), Streep is still in form to stamp down the title of being the greatest actress alive at the moment. It’s a fierce, merciless, incredible turn as an embittered-woman-turned-nun, relaying an attitude that repels the forces of change around her (she loathes ballpoint pens, and borders as a racist, unconsciously discriminating blacks and homosexuality), but then draws a stunning character arc about the sexual savages she encountered and her own personal questions about faith. Hands down as well to the excellent Amy Adams as Sister James, who happen to witness certain details of the case but is often self-deluded about becoming a paragon for social justice, and the brilliant Viola Davis as the boy’s mother, whose scene with Streep, the two of them walking in ten full minutes onscreen, creates a performance level that ignites. It is a tour-de-force of an appearance, as quickly as her character fades, it leaves a mark as a conflicted mother forced to sacrifice her beliefs for the welfare of her son. These four characters, along with the walls and environs, are framed impeccable by Roger Deakin's cinematography balancing the beginning's autumnal look and then desolates it with bitter force as the shades turn to bleak greys. That final shot of Sister Aloysius confessing her "doubts" is as compelling a portrait of loneliness could be.


VERDICT:

Doubt is the cinematic equivalent of fireworks. The quartet of performances literally ignite in front of you. It has Oscars written all over this portrait of religious ambivalence and moral fickleness. Streep creates one of cinema’s most ferocious monsters.


RATING: A