Doubt

i don't know how to write about this movie except in complete cliches because it is that good. i typically feel sick when i hear someone say 'that's the best movie i've seen in forever' or some similarly cliched phrase, but this is what i've felt and feel about Doubt. this may be because i was raised Catholic, played the role of alter boy dressed in robes and watched Father Michael as the pastor draped the Priestly vestments. the vestments are placed on the priest in order, starting with the amice, ending with the surplice and sometimes biretta. the vestments are beautifully ornamented and opulent robes. during mass, i held the heavy gold-plated bible, my back to the congregation, as Father Michael opened the book to the page he wanted, held his hands up, and then read the gospel. i brought the cruets of water and wine for the priest so that he could pour them into the chalice. i watched as Father Michael put the eucharist away in the tabernacle at the end of the mass. but along with these things, which all altar boys do, i saw other things. Father Michael ran five miles every morning before the first mass. he came into the church sweating and smelling. i saw him and the deacon laughing, joking with one another, then becoming priests again when a lay person walked by. i was invited into Father Michael's small house near St. Peters, which was like any other house. at one point, i think, i wanted to be a priest. i no longer go to church, am no longer catholic, but still have a deep respect for Catholicism, when it is tolerant and sane (which, in my experience, it can be).

possibly a spoiler in here, though i've left out big things:

Doubt is a movie that never lets the audience see directly into the mind of it's characters. we never get to see what Father Flynn really thinks or really has done. we never get to hear a voice-over from Sister James. and though we seem to have Sister Aloysius understood, we do not. thus, it is fitting that the movie begins with one altar boy. we are that altar boy for the rest of the movie, watching things happen in the church that the lay people do not see: where the vestments are kept; what a priest eats; what the nuns do in spare time. but, like an altar boy, we never get into the mind of the characters - we simply observe, and this is what makes Doubt one of the finest films i've seen in a long, long time. it makes us create along with it.

the film is essentially a power-struggle between Father Flynn and Sister Aloysius. Sister James is caught up in this struggle. she reports to Sister Aloysius some suspicious behavior between a student named Donald Miller (a black boy) and Father Flynn. immediately Sister Aloysius believes there is something sinister happening. this is the question the film wants us to ask: as an observer who is priveliged, who gets to see more than a lay person, but does not get to see everything, do we believe that Father Flynn is innocent? or do we believe that Father Flynn has committed some vile act, most likely sexual assualt? Meryl Streep plays the conservative, rigid, and sometimes cruel, sometimes compassionate Sister Aloysius so well it hurts to watch her. Philip Seymour Hoffman plays the more progressive, kind (and possibly gay) Father Flynn not like he is a priest, but like he is flawed person who also is a man of God. Amy Adams's Sister James is an innocent, but also is developing into a strong nun, and she does well alongside Hoffman and Streep. there are three scenes in the film that are so strong i was surprised they were all in the same movie.

all that said, this isn't a movie where anything happens. in fact, almost nothing happens. so, if you like a movie with stuff happening, don't see it. this is about characters. it is about the struggle between doubt and certainty, and it a beautifully conceived and beautifully shot movie. also, if you're looking for a religious message, you will not get one: it is an utterly human movie. i will not give away more.