“A truth that’s told with bad intent…
Beats all the lies you can invent.”
-William Blake
“It was the schoolboy who said, ‘Faith is believing what you know ain’t so.’”
-Mark Twain
There’s a certain quality that a simple work of art possesses that allows it to transcend differences of perspective and opinion, that makes it appealing to people of separate demographics, and that enables people with contrary perceptions to unite in the acknowledgment of its greatness: that quality is ambiguity.
What could be more provocative or more stimulating than the telling of a story with an infectious question at its center, and when at the center of that question there is no single answer, but rather a whole other series of questions? That is essentially what is at the heart of playwright and filmmaker John Patrick Shanley’s stage play and film Doubt. The story, set in the 1960s, a time of political and social turbulence and of great reforms, tells of opposing forces and contrary viewpoints and how human beings can either be bonded or driven apart by their frailties.
The stage play of Doubt, which was known as Doubt: A Parable, was indeed simple in its minimalist approach using few actors and fewer sets, yet it created an atmosphere, both emotionally and intellectually, that couldn’t have been much more complex or multi-faceted.
Much of John Patrick Shanley’s inspiration came for the story came from his own experiences and memories of having attended Saint Anthony’s Catholic School in New York during the ‘60s. He remembered having been taught by a group of nuns, known as The Sisters of Charity, and how he had simultaneously admired them while being intimidated by their authoritarianism. Shanley also recalled the strange rivalry between the male priests and the female nuns and how it reflected a gender bias within the church. Taking these things in mind and artistically combing them with the church sex abuse scandals, which have captured the attention of the public, he’s created a story that has little event, only a handful of characters, a relatively slow pace, and yet it contains more suspense and a more powerful emotional impact than most films or plays.
“Today’s Catholic church seems to reward authoritarian personalities, who are clearly ill, violent, sexually obsessed and unable to remember the past.”
-Matthew Fox
“A belief is like a guillotine, just as heavy, just as light.”
-Franz Kafka
It’s 1964, one year since the assassination of President John F. Kennedy threw the American people into an existential tailspin, and clearly social reform is on everyone’s mind, but the question remains as to whether the country should return to the rigid conservatism of the previous decade or turn to the progressive liberalism that’s begun to sweep the nation. Amidst this turmoil tensions begin to arise between the races and genders, and at stake is nothing less than social equality itself. Perhaps nowhere is this struggle between antiquity and modernity more apparent than in the church.
Sister Aloysius has been the most feared figure at Saint Nicholas Church School for quite sometime and she’s known for her rigid traditionalism and strong belief in discipline. However, the parish’s new priest, Father Flynn, believes that the children at the school and the churchgoers should be related to on a more human level, with compassion and acceptance. During one of Father Flynn’s sermons, when he extols the virtue of doubt and its ability to bond people in a time of difficulties, Sister Aloysius is appalled because she views this as an invitation to disbelieve in God. In her mind, this is heresy, and yet the churchgoers seem to be able to relate to it. This horrifies her and she immediately takes note to keep a close eye on Father Flynn. During dinner that night, Sister Aloysius tells the other nuns that she has concerns about the direction the school seems to be going in and to keep their eyes open for anything out of the ordinary.
Meanwhile, the young and innocent Sister James, who teaches the children in the school, begins to notice that the school’s only African-American student, Donald Miller, who’s also an altar boy, has been acting strangely. One day after visiting Father Flynn in the rectory, she observes that he’s acting very strangely and furthermore that he has alcohol on his breath. Naturally, being true to her word, she reports this to Sister Aloysius, who immediately suspects the worst: that Father Flynn may have molested the by in some way after giving him alcohol. Under the false pretenses of discussing that year’s Christmas pageant, Sister Aloysius arranges a meeting between herself, Sister James, and Father Flynn. During the discussion, Sister Aloysius asks how Father Flynn thinks Donald Miller should be used in the play. She emphasizes the importance of him not being too visible or being put aside, but Father Flynn proposes that he be treated like any other student in the play because the color of his skin is no excuse to treat him differently. Then Sister Aloysius brings up the fact that Father Flynn had visited with Donald Miller in the rectory and that was “special treatment” as this wasn’t something typically done. She also mentions the boy’s unusual behavior upon his return to class and the smell of alcohol on his breath. Father Flynn seems, at first, nonplussed but when Sister Aloysius becomes accusatory he becomes impatient and refuses to discuss things further under the current circumstances. But after Sister Aloysius threatens to tell the Bishop, Father Flynn relents and explains that Donald had been drinking altar wine that morning and that he didn’t want people to know because he feared that it would further alienate the boy if he were removed from the altar boys.
Though Sister James seems satisfied with Father Flynn’s explanation Sister Aloysius doesn’t believe him for a second. After having a discussion with Father Flynn and hearing his personal philosophies on how the church needs to be more welcoming and less judgmental, and how Sister Aloysius and her fellow conservatives are holding the church back and limiting its potential to reach out to those who need spiritual guidance the most. Later Sister James goes to Sister Aloysius to tell her of the conversation she had with Father Flynn and how it laid her worries to rest, but Sister Aloysius insults her by suggesting that she’s simple and naïve.
Desperate to prove that something illicit had indeed happened between Father Flynn and Donald, Sister Aloysius contacts Donald’s mother and arranges a meeting. When they meet, Sister Aloysius learns about Donald’s home life and how he was severely bullied by the kids at his last school, how his father beats him, and how he’s so lucky to have someone like Father Flynn to look after him. Sister Aloysius suggests that she and Mrs. Miller go for a walk to discuss things further. When Sister Aloysius explains the reasons for her concerns, her belief that Father Flynn has formed an inappropriate relationship with Donald, she is met with a great surprise. First of all, Mrs. Miller doesn’t seem to be entirely surprised or worried about such a possible relationship, and secondly, she reveals something that Sister Aloysius never expected about Donald. Sister Aloysius explains that Father Flynn and Donald must be kept at a distance from each other until she can have Father Flynn removed from the school and the church, but Mrs. Miller objects when Sister Aloysius suggests that Donald might also need to be taken out of the school. Sister Aloysius can’t fathom any mother allowing her son to continue a relationship like this and she can’t understand how to solve the problem, but she knows she must.
Later, Father Flynn comes in to Sister Aloysius’ office and confronts her about the meeting with Mrs. Miller and demands that she abandon her absurd smear campaign against him. But Sister Aloysius insists that she is certain of his guilt, though she has no physical proof or even an admission from Donald that anything has happened. She threatens to have Father Flynn removed and that she will by any means, do so, even if she has to call every other church that he’s served at to find something incriminating in his past. When she suggests that she has contacted a nun at one of his old parishes, Father Flynn is furious that she contacted a nun, a woman, and not the priest or the bishop, a man, as is customary. After their argument escalates, Father Flynn promises that he won’t give in and that he will not be removed from the church while Sister Aloysius swears that she will not rest until he either admits his guilt, willfully resigns, or is forcibly removed by the Bishop. Ultimately, Father Flynn does resign and in Sister Aloysius’ mind this confirms her suspicions.
Later she discusses this with Sister James. Sister James can’t believe that Father Flynn could ever have committed such a heinous sin and she asks how Sister Aloysius got him to resign. Sister Aloysius simply explains that all she had to do was tell Father Flynn that she had called a nun at his former parish and learned all that she needed to know. But when Sister James asks Sister Aloysius what the nun told her, she is shocked to find out that Sister Aloysius lied to Father Flynn and that she never contacted any nun. Sister Aloysius explains that the fact that Father Flynn reacted to her lie with guilt and resignation, that this was proof of his transgressions. And yet, Sister Aloysius felt something eating away at her: doubt, such doubt.
“We are paid for our suspicions by finding what we suspected.”
-Henry David Thoreau
“My guiding principle is this: Guilt is never to be doubted.”
-Franz Kafka
The film boasts an amazing ensemble cast, albeit a small one by the standards of a Hollywood major motion picture, that includes Philip Seymour Hoffman as Father Flynn, Meryl Streep as Sister Aloysius, Amy Adams as Sister James, and Viola Davis as Mrs. Miller. Every member of the cast is extraordinary.
Philip Seymour Hoffman, as always, delivers a wonderfully understated performance which never once attempts to reveal his character as being either guilty or innocent, but suggests that he does have a secret that haunts him, though we never learn what exactly that secret is.
Meryl Streep is also terrific playing Sister Aloysius, at first playing her like a stereotypical authoritarian nun and then as the film progresses subverting audience expectations by revealing that she is a deeply caring person though her methods are harsh and her judgment premature.
Amy Adams doesn’t really stretch herself that much playing Sister James since she has primarily played young, naïve, and starry-eyed characters so far in her career. However, she does get to show how the extremes of those characteristics here without going over the top and while performing scenes of great emotional intensity.
Viola Davis is stunningly believable as Mrs. Miller, Donald’s desperate mother, and her role may very well be the most polarizing in the film because of her character’s reaction to the news that her son may have been abused. Her performance, which couldn’t be further away from glamorous, feels almost too realistic for what is basically a melodrama, but this is a very minor quibble.
The film, just as the play, is ultimately ambiguous in that it plants all sorts of ideas about the characters and the events in our minds but never reveals the final truth. Because of this and because of the fact that there is a universal conflict between the Left and the Right, the male and the female, and the black and the white, audience members have applied their own beliefs and theories to the plot. There are those who see the story as a parable about the sexism within the church and the way that priests have luxuries and privileges that nuns don’t have, while others see it as being a straight-forward battle between two different kinds of idealists, and others still, who believe that the real message is about the dangers of prejudice and dogma. Whether you think you know the whole story or not, you don’t because there is no whole story, no absolute truth, no single solitary answer to explain it all. That may prove to be frustrating for some, but deeply rewarding for those viewers who don’t want to have a story dictated to them.
The film, just as was the case with the stage play, works best when you see it for the first time with a group of people and after the film’s over, you realize that everyone has a different opinion as to what they just saw. There will be those who immediately take sides with one character or the ideal that they represent, while there will also be those who choose not to take sides and instead acknowledge the flaws of all the characters, and there will be those who cast judgment based upon their own life experiences and how those life experiences have shaped their world view. This is what makes Doubt, without a doubt, so special.
“Prejudice: a vagrant opinion without visible means of support.”
-Ambrose Bierce
“I know nothing except the fact of my ignorance.”
-Diogenes
