Doubt

A spellbinding tale featuring some of the best acting of the year. Philip Seymour Hoffman plays Father Flynn, a priest who teaches at a school run by a religious order in a rough New York suburb in 1964. When an observant nun thinks she detects something unusual in his relationship with the school’s first black student who needs extra coaching, she confides in her superior, Sister Aloysius (Meryl Streep). Father Flynn’s attempts to bring his parishioners into the modern world are not always welcomed by the faithful. The stage is set for a battle of wills and accusations. Is Sister Aloysius merely a vindictive busybody? Is Father Flynn quite what he seems? This tense encounter with notions of faith, ambiguity and uncertainty is beautifully played and filmed. Hoffman and Streep give powerful and memorable performances. Shanley directs his own Pulitzer prize-winning novel which was also a successful Broadway play.
Brain Robinson