Doubt: Review By slysnide

Of all of the good movies of 2008, I'd concur that this one was the most overlooked in it's greatness.

The plot basis for this unrecognized film never features the actual key words being spoken, like sex, molester, touching etc. It's just assumed what's going on via today's culture.

Set in 1964 at a church in the Bronx, Father Flynn (Philip Seymour Hoffman) has been spending too much time alone with the school's first African American student, Donald Miller (Joseph Foster), which raises eyebrows of Sister Aloysius (Meryl Streep). Miller's teacher Sister James (Amy Adams) also suspects the same thing, but tries to deny it and take every excuse Father Flynn has to offer. Even Mrs. Miller (Viola Davis) doesn't seem to care about Sister Aloysius' susp*cions.

While the only suspense was of whether or not the likeable Father Flynn was indeed molesting Donald Miller, the way the characters avoid directly making the accusations and avoid saying the words that pertain to it intrigue the viewer as they try to cope with Father Flynn's seemingly innocent, modern ways which are to the distaste of Sister Aloysius, as well as cope to her reasonable susp*cions in that they're out of concern for the student. At the same time, there's the easily manipulated Sister James caught in the middle of the two opinions, who can't seem to make up her own mind about anything.

Despite this intrigue, it seems to drag on a bit too long for there not being any major confrontations. There are two, but they go just the way you would expect a confrontation like that to go with Father Flynn by tradition ranking above Sister Aloysius, who's also the principal of the school within the church grounds.

The lack of a subplot interwoven in the story also hurts the film slightly given it's length.

The visuals weren’t that amazing, as there’s only one sequence that extends five minutes in length outside of the school, and the interior isn’t that spectacular either…but the close ups of the characters are.

The thing that sells this film was the acting alone. All three of the lead actors were well worthy of being honored at the Academy Awards, despite not winning them, but it says a lot about them, considering that with a plot so simple, it's the acting alone which carries the story so dramatically.

Overall, it’s not the type of film enjoyable enough to watch more than once or twice for me, but it was a decent film, with an equally decent ending that leaves you having the same doubts as one of the main characters in the end.