DOUBT

Director: John Patrick Shanley

Stars: Meryl Steep, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams, Viola Davis

Year: 2008

Rating: PG-13

For anyone out there who still has any, uhh, "doubt" (sorry) about whether Meryl Streep is, indeed, the finest living actress around today - just put this film up against her performance in Mamma Mia! from the same year, and try to find another performer today who could have pulled off both such polar-opposite roles the way she did. Streep brings such passion, conviction, and immense talent to every character she takes on ... and never has that been more evident than in the role of Sister Aloysius Beauvier, a bitter and judgemental nun who runs her parish school in 1964 New York with an iron hand and a sharp tongue, delighting in terrorizing her students in order to keep them in line.

Very strong, charismatic performances are what make the film, and indeed Philip Seymour Hoffman's portrayal of Father Brendan Flynn goes head-to-head against Streep's ferocity, when Sister Aloysius learns from a young, teaching nun taken under her wing - Sister James (Amy Adams) - that she has seen Father Flynn engaging in some unusual behavior with a young Black male student at the school. Said behavior, as described by Sister James, could have any one of a dozen possible (and totally innocent) explanations - but in Sister Aloysius' twisted, sour mind only one explanation exists, and she becomes determined to find not so much the truth of what happened ... but her truth of what happened. Pecking away at the situation like a buzzard tearing flesh from a dead carcass, Sister not only slowly chips away at Father Flynn's character, background and motives - she also manages to ferment that same doubt in everyone and everything she touches, slowly making even the viewer unsure of Father Flynn's true role in the matter. Is the bottom line that Sister doesn't like Father Flynn's more progressive, forward-thinking attitudes regarding the Catholic church, and therefore just wants him out? Or does she really have the school and young man's interests at heart, wanting only to do the right thing and see a monster unmasked?

Based on the 2005 Pulitzer Prize-winning play, Doubt is a great mind game with the potential to make viewers question the courage of their own convictions more than once during the film. The four leads - Streep, Hoffman, Adams and Davis - give stellar performances that keep the film engrossing and viewers guessing ... though, in the end, don't necessarily expect a hard and fast resolution. Indeed, five different people watching this film could come to five different conclusions about the story (and characters) in it -then spend hours at dinner afterward, debating why they feel the way they do. That's the brilliance of the film; its ability to show you just how fragile your strongest beliefs can be when held up to the light of truth ... or how easily skewered they can become, when seen through corrupted eyes. **** - Reel Awesome