Doubt Movie Review

Rob and I went to see Doubt on Friday night. I had heard very little about the movie, only saw a brief trailer for it during one of the previous movies we had seen earlier in the week. As soon as I hear Phillip Seymour Hoffman or Meryl Streep my ears always perk up. I knew that it had something to do with a Catholic school and it was based in 1964. Meryl Streep played a nun and Hoffman played the priest.




I had no expectations going into the movie except that the actors were wonderful. I loved the portrayal of Sister James by Amy Adams. Ms. Adams also played the princess in Enchanted. Although I hadn't put that together until Rob told me after the movie ended.


Meryl's character was a stiff necked hard nosed old fashioned nun. The priest played by Hoffman was a friend to the people, he was charasmatic and very personable. He started the movie with a sermon on Doubt, we all have it, in fact it is a bond that holds us together. Doubt in itself is difficult, doubt in a group is easier managed than having doubts and feeling all alone with those doubts.

I don't want to give the plot of the movie away, so I wont go into any specifics. But through the course of the movie the principal of the school, Meryl Streep, takes issue with the priest and desides to go on a witch hunt to prove her own hunch true. Amy Adams character, Sister James is the pure soul that loves the students and believes the best of people. Her conscience is unsettled as she gets involved with all the goings on.

This movie is difficult to watch, the conflict in the movie is excrutiating. I found myself not knowing which way to land on the "facts" and "suppositions" myself. I left the movie with doubt about the guilt and innocence, but the best scene by far is the last scene when the hardened nun falls apart because she has doubt herself.

This movie had every intention of leaving us all doubting, but it was well written and acting great. I tend to like my movies tidy at the end. Hospital corners folded under precisely. That is not this movie. But I am glad to have seen it, and even though Meryl and Hoffman were great, my favorite performance was by Adams.