Directed by John Patrick Shaney, and based on his award-winning play, Doubt was the first in this season’s long list of Oscar-hopeful films to arrive.  It was only a combination of factors that made it take us so long to go see it.  Built around a very strong cast (Meryl Streep and Philip Seymour Hoffman star), Doubt, when broken down to its essence, looks at how we decide what is true and what is false.  How much of our judgments are based on fact, how much on intuition, and how much on falsehoods which we have convinced ourselves are true?

Hoffman plays Father Flynn, who is the priest for a Bronx Catholic church.  Attached to the church is a private school, where Sister Aloysius (Streep) serves as the principal.  One of the newer, less experienced teachers is Sister Marie James (Amy Adams), who has been put in charge of 8th grade.  She is kindhearted and runs her classroom with friendliness and affection, in sharp contrast to the much older (in age and in manner) Sister Aloysius.  Aloysius tries to harden Sister Marie James, as she sees her somewhat naïve.  “Hang up something framed on your chalkboard, so you can see the reflection in the glass.  They need to think they’ve got eyes in the back of your head.”  The entire student body lives in fear of Sister Aloysius, and she feels that’s exactly the way it should be.

Friendly and approachable Father Flynn, who also coaches the basketball team, believes that the church needs to be more open, and that the priests and nuns should view themselves as on the same level as the parents and children.  In particular, he’s taken an interest in trying to help and protect the school’s first black student.  That’s where the trouble starts; Sister Marie James becomes concerned that there may be something inappropriate in that relationship, and she brings her suspicions to Sister Aloysius.  Aloysius becomes immediately convinced that Flynn is a pedophile.

It is the basis of that conviction which forms the remainder of the film.  Acting on her own, outside the proper channels of the church, Sister Aloysius wants to prove his guilt to those around him, or at the very least drive Flynn to leave the church.  Sister Marie James, who is much more like-minded with Flynn when it comes to dealing with the students, isn’t sure what to believe…in a way, Aloysius’ steadfast certainty makes it harder for Sister Marie James to believe that Flynn has done anything wrong.  After all, there is no proof, only suspicion.

Doubt serves as a useful title, because the idea of doubt is spread throughout the film.  We hear it as a topic in Father Flynn’s sermon, and we see it in every character; they doubt their certainty, they doubt their father, they doubt their eyes, they doubt their decisions.  Only Sister Aloysius shows no doubt…but is she as strong as she seems?  While Hoffman and Adams do justice to their characters, it is Meryl Streep’s acting which really sparkles.  Only an actress of her caliber could take what is written on the surface as a one-dimensional oppressive principal, and allow all the detail and depth to come forth.  A change in tone, a tightening of her mouth, a raised eyebrow…each move carries great meaning.  Streep’s portrayal gives all the other actors something to build on and play off of.  As it stands, it is a very good film – albeit not quite a terrific as I had been led to believe.  But it is worth seeing.