Doubt
I saw a post at dotCommonweal (Reasonable doubt) about a recent movie on the past clergy-sexual abuse situation, and I thought I'd look the movie up. Roger Ebert has reviewed the movie, illuminated by his own Catholic education :), and he gave it four stars. I'm posting a little of his review below, but first here's a bit of what Wikipedia says of it ....
Doubt is an film adaptation of the John Patrick Shanley play Doubt. Starring Meryl Streep, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams and Viola Davis, the film is directed by Shanley, produced by Scott Rudin and shot in New York City. Doubt centers on a nun who confronts a priest after suspecting him of sexually abusing a new black student, but the priest denies the charges. Much of the film's quick-fire dialogue tackles themes of religion, morality and authority.
And here is some of Ebert's review .....
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A Catholic grade school could seem like a hermetically sealed world in 1964. That's the case with St. Nicholas in the Bronx, ruled by the pathologically severe principal Sister Aloysius, who keeps the students and nuns under her thumb and is engaged in an undeclared war with the new parish priest. Their issues may seem to center around the reforms of Vatican II, then still under way, with Father Flynn (Philip Seymour Hoffman) as the progressive, but for the nun I believe it's more of a power struggle ......
Under Aloysius' command is the sweet young Sister James (Amy Adams, from "Junebug"), whose experience in the world seems limited to what she sees out the convent window. Gradually during the autumn semester, a Situation develops.
There is one African-American student at St. Nicholas, Donald Miller (Joseph Foster II), and Father Flynn encourages him in sports and appoints him as an altar boy. This is all proper. Then Sister James notes that the priest summons the boy to the rectory alone. She decides this is improper behavior, and informs Aloysius, whose eyes narrow like a beast of prey. Father Flynn's fate is sealed.
But "Doubt" is not intended as a docudrama about possible sexual abuse. Directed by John Patrick Shanley from his Pulitzer- and Tony-winning play, it is about the title word, doubt, in a world of certainty. For Aloysius, Flynn is certainly guilty. That the priest seems innocent, that Sister James comes to believe she was mistaken in her suspicions, means nothing. Flynn knows a breath of scandal would destroy his career. And that is the three-way standoff we watch unfolding with precision and tension.
Something else happens. The real world enters this sealed, parochial battlefield. Donald's mother (Viola Davis) fears her son will be expelled from the school. He has been accused of drinking the altar wine. Worse, of being given it by Father Flynn. She appeals directly to Sister Aloysius, in a scene as good as any I've seen this year. It lasts about 10 minutes, but it is the emotional heart and soul of "Doubt," and if Viola Davis isn't nominated by the Academy, an injustice will have been done. She goes face to face with the pre-eminent film actress of this generation, and it is a confrontation of two equals that generates terrifying power .....
I know people who are absolutely certain what conclusion they should draw from this film. They disagree. "Doubt" has exact and merciless writing, powerful performances and timeless relevance. It causes us to start thinking with the first shot, and we never stop. Think how rare that is in a film.
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The post at dorCommonweal was mostly about an op-ed on the movie (No Doubt of the Church's Resolve) in The Boston Globe by Michael Merz, chairman of the U.S. Catholic bishops’ National Review Board. Merz,' article is actually more of a defense of the US Bishops than a movie review, and he makes an assertion that ... The Catholic Church is unrelenting in its quest to ensure that all children - indeed, all persons - in its care are safe, and reverenced as children of God. Of this there is no doubt. But as the post at dotCommonweal points out, the respected positions held by guys who made questionable choices about how to handle the abuse crisis (Cardinal Law and Cardinal George) make the truth of that assertion very doubtful.
Doubt is an film adaptation of the John Patrick Shanley play Doubt. Starring Meryl Streep, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams and Viola Davis, the film is directed by Shanley, produced by Scott Rudin and shot in New York City. Doubt centers on a nun who confronts a priest after suspecting him of sexually abusing a new black student, but the priest denies the charges. Much of the film's quick-fire dialogue tackles themes of religion, morality and authority.
And here is some of Ebert's review .....
**************************
A Catholic grade school could seem like a hermetically sealed world in 1964. That's the case with St. Nicholas in the Bronx, ruled by the pathologically severe principal Sister Aloysius, who keeps the students and nuns under her thumb and is engaged in an undeclared war with the new parish priest. Their issues may seem to center around the reforms of Vatican II, then still under way, with Father Flynn (Philip Seymour Hoffman) as the progressive, but for the nun I believe it's more of a power struggle ......
Under Aloysius' command is the sweet young Sister James (Amy Adams, from "Junebug"), whose experience in the world seems limited to what she sees out the convent window. Gradually during the autumn semester, a Situation develops.
There is one African-American student at St. Nicholas, Donald Miller (Joseph Foster II), and Father Flynn encourages him in sports and appoints him as an altar boy. This is all proper. Then Sister James notes that the priest summons the boy to the rectory alone. She decides this is improper behavior, and informs Aloysius, whose eyes narrow like a beast of prey. Father Flynn's fate is sealed.
But "Doubt" is not intended as a docudrama about possible sexual abuse. Directed by John Patrick Shanley from his Pulitzer- and Tony-winning play, it is about the title word, doubt, in a world of certainty. For Aloysius, Flynn is certainly guilty. That the priest seems innocent, that Sister James comes to believe she was mistaken in her suspicions, means nothing. Flynn knows a breath of scandal would destroy his career. And that is the three-way standoff we watch unfolding with precision and tension.
Something else happens. The real world enters this sealed, parochial battlefield. Donald's mother (Viola Davis) fears her son will be expelled from the school. He has been accused of drinking the altar wine. Worse, of being given it by Father Flynn. She appeals directly to Sister Aloysius, in a scene as good as any I've seen this year. It lasts about 10 minutes, but it is the emotional heart and soul of "Doubt," and if Viola Davis isn't nominated by the Academy, an injustice will have been done. She goes face to face with the pre-eminent film actress of this generation, and it is a confrontation of two equals that generates terrifying power .....
I know people who are absolutely certain what conclusion they should draw from this film. They disagree. "Doubt" has exact and merciless writing, powerful performances and timeless relevance. It causes us to start thinking with the first shot, and we never stop. Think how rare that is in a film.
******************
The post at dorCommonweal was mostly about an op-ed on the movie (No Doubt of the Church's Resolve) in The Boston Globe by Michael Merz, chairman of the U.S. Catholic bishops’ National Review Board. Merz,' article is actually more of a defense of the US Bishops than a movie review, and he makes an assertion that ... The Catholic Church is unrelenting in its quest to ensure that all children - indeed, all persons - in its care are safe, and reverenced as children of God. Of this there is no doubt. But as the post at dotCommonweal points out, the respected positions held by guys who made questionable choices about how to handle the abuse crisis (Cardinal Law and Cardinal George) make the truth of that assertion very doubtful.
posted by crystal | 11:35 AM
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