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John Patrick Shanley’s Doubt is an excellent depiction of what can go wrong when a superior is obsessed with her own version of facts,
writes Ervell E. Menezes WhAT happens when a domineering, nosey, disciplinarian nun Sr Aloysius (Meryl Streep) is bent on imposing her will (and views too) in a Bronx school in the 1964 ("President John F. Kennedy was assassinated a year ago)? The simmering discontent builds and presto, all hell breaks lose when she suspects Fr Flynn (Philip Seymour Hoffman) of interfering with an altar boy.
There are eight nuns and three priests in this Bronx parish and director John Patrick Shanley (on whose play the film is based) wastes no time with the establishing shots. The aged nuns are shepherded not too kindly by the principal Sr Aloysius, who is clearly the mistress of all she surveys. Fr Flynn is a basketball coach too, outgoing and compassionate his mission is to be friends with the students. But this does not go well with the rigid, unchanging Sr Aloysius. Cough drops are candy by another name, ball-pens are forbidden and sugar is also a no-no. And just because Fr Flynn likes them, the tussle begins. Sr James (Amy Adams) is a more humane and caring sister, who does not believe in her principal’s diktat and for that there is friction. But when Sr James tells the principal that she smelt alcohol on the breath of the only black boy Donald Miller (Joseph Foster), Sr Aloysius seizes the opportunity of getting back on Fr Flynn. The incident is blown out of proportion and Donald is stopped from serving at mass for drinking the wine. "It’s my job to outshine the fox in his cleverness’ — the principal tells Sr James. By now, the gossip mill has built its own monolith by putting 2 and 2 together and making it 22. Worse still, Sr Aloysius sends for Mrs Miller (Viola Davis) and hints at priests making overtures with her son. That Donald’s dad beats him up at the least provocation only makes his plight worse. The opening choir sessions provide an apt church setting and music gives it a further fillip with songs like ‘Bosonova’. It is here that Sr James comes out in stark contrast to the rigid, even frigid, Sr Aloysius who proves to be her own worst enemy. So far, so good. In fact all the key characters are well fleshed and director Stanley’s screenplay is replete with good one-liners. But sadly, he does not let the drama reach its fitting climax. On the contrary, he chickens out of the confrontation. The solution is convenient so as not to create a scandal and poetic justice prevails but not without a feeling of d`E9j`E0 vu. If Meryl Streep showed her versatility in The Devil Wears Prada, she picks up from where she left off there to turn in a most convincing performance as the despicable principal and Philip Seymour Hoffman who picked an Oscar last year for his depiction of Truman Capote in Capote, also brings out the angst in the character bent on reaching out to his parishioners. Amy Adams more than catches the eye as the lovable Sr James while Viola Davis’ cameo of Mrs Miller is as bold as it is effective. Doubt
is an excellent depiction of what can go wrong when a superior is
obsessed with her own version of facts. Well worth watching,
especially for those concerned. It is not anti-Catholic.
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