Review of Doubt (2009) by Emily W — 06 Mar 2012

Superb acting performances from Streep, Hoffman, Adams, Davis! The unsatisfying ending could have been avoided by further comments from Sister Aloysius as to what exactly did she doubt. I can see by other commenters that each viewer has simply assumed that these doubts were the same ones shared by the viewer. This is pretty cheap, as it avoids elucidating her character. Is she doubting the value of what she is doing? Is the doubting her faith? Is she doubting her decision to lie? Is she doubting her "decision" that Father Flynn is guilty? It would have been helpful to know. Instead, the film refuses to make any point.

What I loved about the characters were the mix of good and bad in each one. Sister Aloysius, despite her stern austerity, is not devoid of empathy or kindness, as we can see in her tender attention to the elderly nuns. She is not unkind to Sister James, even though it is obvious she thinks Sister James is too "soft". And she is fairly honest about herself.

Sister James' character seems to recognize during the course of the film, that she can learn a few things from Sister Aloysius. So, we see her evaluating what is good and maybe not so good about her boss. This is what we all do, generally, or should do, attempt to find the good from those around us and provide grace around those areas of which we don't approve.

And Father Flynn. He strikes me as a good, decent, compassionate guy, but leaves himself open with his quirkiness over his fingernails. Perhaps it is something as minor as this which causes the prejudice against him taken by Sister Aloysius. I gathered that we are not supposed to think he is guilty, but that we see the harm of malicious gossip, without any objective foundation, into which human beings are prone to lapse. And, there is the spiritual temptation provided by an ignoble desire to think the worst of others, and to revel in someone else's downfall.

Viola Davis gives a wonderful short performance as an embattled mother.

Although this doesn't really bear on the film, I couldn't help noticing that the sermons by Father Flynn are always his opinions about this or that, and do not provide even one single scriptural reference. The emptiness of such sermons is a perfect illustration of why so many Christians found nothing of value in "church". The priest is supposed to expound God's word to us, that we may be inspired by IT, and not by the priest's own personal opinions.