Doubt

This film opens with a view of a street scene from the sixties. We see the neighborhood and those who inhabit it, preparing for the daily parade to the center of the community, the Catholic Church. And that is as far as we are taken from church grounds. Without researching the production, I can be reasonably sure that it originated as a play. It is not so much what happens on these grounds that is the reason we are here, it is what might have occurred.

This is a story-based film, and one that I was looking forward to. Philip Seymour Hoffman is an outstanding actor (and one of my favorites. Meryl Streep isn’t but she is excellent in everything she chooses to be a part of. With story being the action, I didn’t feel enough kick. It was too subdued. What we received packed little punch and was nothing more than an episode of ‘Little House on the Prairie’. I say this because in the end it was always the moral of the story that was most important. And often times, that was left for the viewer to interpret. This is central to 'Doubt' as well.

I loved the feel of the film, as I was raised in the sixties. Everything looked right and it brought back memories of a time when buildings had character, automobiles were distinct and the people who lived around you were not strangers.
It is a period piece that succeeds exceedingly well on that level. And true to form, Meryl Streep is fantastic. I had thought that this took place in any one of the cities with a large Irish population But Ms. Streep has an unmistakable Boston accent (and perfect I might add).

The Catholic Church in America is a once powerful entity that for a time was as influential as the government itself. But it began to crumble; as did the government when the truth was revealed to those whose support made the institutions possible. Lying beneath the surface was an ugly network of pathetically powerful men. A cabal based on power, greed, lust and deception. Demons who were meant to dwell in the final chapter of the book they used to advance their cause. There is little doubt where they are headed.