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Doubt | 
| Actors: Meryl Streep, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams
Studio: Miramax
Category: DVD
List Price: $29.99
Buy Used: $1.84
as of 7/29/2010 12:45 PDT details
You Save: $28.15 (94%)
New (42) Used (68) from $1.84
Seller: goHastings
Rating:  222 reviews
Sales Rank: 2603
Format: AC-3, Color, Dolby, DVD, NTSC, Widescreen
Languages: English (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled), English (Original Language), French (Original Language)
Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Region: 1
Discs: 1
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Running Time: 104 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.3
Dimensions (in): 7.5 x 5.4 x 0.7
MPN: 786936756173
UPC: 786936756173
EAN: 0786936756173
ASIN: B001PA0FFO
Theatrical Release Date: 2008
Release Date: April 7, 2009
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Priest is accused of improper conduct with a student.
It's always a risk when writers direct their own work, since some playwrights don't travel well from stage to screen. Aided by Roger Deakins, of No Country for Old Men fame, who vividly captures the look of a blustery Bronx winter, Moonstruck's John Patrick Shanley pulls it off. If Doubt makes for a dialogue-heavy experience, like The Crucible and 12 Angry Men, the words and ideas are never dull, and a consummate cast makes each one count. Set in 1964 and loosely inspired by actual events, Shanley focuses on St. Nicholas, a Catholic primary school that has accepted its first African-American student, Donald Miller (Joseph Foster), who serves as altar boy to the warm-hearted Father Flynn (Phillip Seymour Hoffman). Donald may not have any friends, but that doesn't worry his mother, Mrs. Miller (Viola Davis in a scene-stealing performance), since her sole concern is that her son gets a good education. When Sister James (Amy Adams) notices Flynn concentrating more of his attentions on Miller than the other boys, she mentions the matter to Sister Aloysius Beauvier (Meryl Streep), the school's hard-nosed principal. Looking for any excuse to push the progressive priest out of her tradition-minded institution, Sister Aloysius sets out to destroy him, and if that means ruining Donald's future in the process--so be it. Naturally, she's the least sympathetic combatant in this battle, but Streep invests her disciplinarian with wit and unexpected flashes of empathy. Of all the characters she's played, Sister Aloysius comes closest to caricature, but she never feels like a cartoon; just a sad woman willing to do anything to hold onto what little she has before the forces of change render her--and everything she represents--redundant. --Kathleen C. Fennessy
Stills from Doubt (Click for larger image)
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 222
 Well Worth Watching July 21, 2010
Helene C. Freitag
Wonderful movie. Great glimpse into catholic schools in the 60's. Keeps you one the edge of your seat.
culture clash made vivid by insinuation, fear, and career July 4, 2010
Robert J. Crawford (Balmette Talloires, France)
This is a very interesting story about the conflict between a tradition-bound disciplinarian, Streep, and a progressive priest played brilliantly by Hoffman. Though it takes place in 1964, the 60s upheavals are really only beginning. Streep wants to keep things simple and controlled, Hoffman to open the church to new ideas. While Streep is more overtly political in the way she enlists a young nun, the wonderful Amy Adams, Hoffman is also proven extremely adept at these kinds of career maneuvering.
The pawn in the story is a solitary young black boy, the first admitted to the Bronx catholic school. He is deeply troubled from an abusive household, yet full of potential; his mother is on his side and hoping to advance his education with the desperation of a person who know she has only one shot. As we all know from recent allegations, the church did not deal well with the proclivities of some of its employees. As Hoffman has lavished attention on the black boy, he becomes suspect in this regard. The young nun is caught in between.
Now, on the surface, it is easy to label the characters. Streep is vicious, resentful, and seeking power as she looks back; Hoffman is a good man, a victim, a visionary who looks forward. But of course, things may not be that simple. Streep may be onto something. Hoffman may not be all that he appears. To the great credit of the playwrite, this is never definitively resolved, but left to the viewer to reason it out. The result is an utterly rivetting drama that can be interpreted in many different ways. I think that there is truth to everyone's point of view in the film.
Recommended. The film is a window into a world, a time, and a terrible human dilemma. The acting is absolutely first rate.
We all have doubt, but... June 27, 2010
S. Fischer (California)
We all experience doubt about important experiences in our lives. How we respond to them, I think, depends on our predilection based on other life experiences, consciousness level, openness of mind, etc. How Sr. Aloysisus (played by Streep) responds to the potentiality of sexual abuse occurring in her school is colored by her hostility towards Fr. Flynn's (Phillip Seymour Hoffman) liberal Catholicism. What is the truth of the situation? We are not told, and so we have our own doubt. How do we decide? What predilection do we have? Personally, my predilection is toward the weak, therefore I side with Sr. Aloysius and the boy Donald. Can we suppress our predilections and so get closer to the truth? It may mean having doubt about our cherished institutions, ideals, philosophies, etc. Can we make those leaps? I think the movie raised some very very important issues and challenges for us all!
Another triumph for Streep May 11, 2010
Nicole Bradshaw (Jackson, MS USA)
I recently got around to watching Doubt, the onscreen drama starring Meryl Streep, Amy Adams and Philip Seymour Hoffman. Wow. It was not as dark a movie as I had feared, performances are uniformly astonishing and the film keeps you second-guessing (which, I imagine, is the point).
Inevitably, Streep is the star of this film. The legendary actress plays Sister Aloysius Beauvier, a nun who serves as the principal at a Catholic school in the Bronx. The year is 1964, and the school has just admitted its first black student (Donald, played by Joseph Foster) in the fall. There's a charismatic new priest in St. Nicholas parish - Father Flynn (Philip Seymour Hoffman). Father Flynn often finds himself at odds with Sister Aloysius' strict ways with the schoolchildren and her faith.
So when young, naive Sister James (Amy Adams) mentions to Sister Aloysius that Father Flynn may have taken a bit too much interest in Donald, Sister Aloysius becomes certain that the relationship has developed into something improper.
Without proof, the two nuns confront Father Flynn, who defends his innocence. Undaunted, Sister Aloysius schedules a meeting with Donald's mother (played with heartbreaking genius by Viola Davis). The woman, who is dealing with her own suspicions about Donald's nature as well as violence in the home, provides Sister Aloysius with no method through which to exercise her moral certainty.
As Sister Aloysius becomes more and more definite in her efforts to oust Father Flynn, questions of faith and doubt emerge in stark relief.
What can I say about this movie? Meryl Streep is a goddess, and anyone who denies it is a fool. The woman is Proteus-like in her ability to inhabit any character with utter credibility. It completely blows my mind. Adams and Hoffman aren't slouches, either, but Streep owns this movie.
Though the story line isn't a happy one, rest assured that the film focuses on Sister Aloysius and her quest. The film purposefully neither confirms nor denies the suspected relationship between the priest and the boy, leaving the viewer to wonder if the nun's conviction has any truth.
A fascinating character study. Worth watching for the performances alone, although the film's moral statement about "innocent until proven guilty" does make one think.
This is brutally honest. May 5, 2010
Harold Edward Wills (Hagerstown, Maryland USA)
This is a sad but true chronicle of the tremendous impact of so-called "men of God" who take license with the lives of others and go unpunished...at least here on earth.
This movie shows once again, that Meryl Streep is a major talent and when she finally receives the Oscar that she has deserved for so long, one has to wonder what role it may be that will precipitate it.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 222
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