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A Meryl Streep movie: so much to analyze. This movie could be considered slow to some,
considering it’s all dialogue and some scenes are drawn out in talk, talk,
talk. However, it will keep you interested and watching if you let yourself get
involved in the complexity of what’s going on (even though it seems like everything is quite simple).
The movie begins with Father Flynn giving a sermon on doubt,
the doubt we all have in our faith and otherwise. We are all united in doubt and in the feeling of
being alone, he says. Throughout the movie there are moments where each
character doubts, and where we as the viewer doubt as well. This is an easily
relatable subject, for I think I could say we all doubt daily about various
matters. Is what I’m doing with my life really important? Is my faith really as
rock-solid as I think it is? Is that person who was just given the death
penalty really guilty? Am I ever going to sleep again?
I can’t get enough of movies where the right and wrong is
not so easily spelled out. Where the characters are painted into a corner and
there seems to be no solution. Where the lines of black and white are blurred,
and you know what’s right, but there
are multiple problems keeping the characters (and you the viewer) from carrying
out the solution to the problem. This happens Doubt. A nun suspects a priest is abusing one of the altar boys.
Too bad it’s not that simple. There are layers uncovered that make us doubt and
wonder what is the best solution to all of this? When there’s no evidence,
should we just let it go? Even though if it's true, it's clearly a devastating and horrible thing for the victims and their family? We can’t just act out of pure emotion and experience,
can we? Following the characters in this movie is rewarding because of the
superb acting. There is a complexity to them, even down to the altar boy, that
gives this movie its layers and therefore the enjoyment to the viewer.
Spoiler alert: continue on only if you’ve seen the movie.
Questions:
1. Does Sister Alouicious love the children, or is she just
on a power trip?
I think she does love them, and here’s the evidence pointing
to it:
-After she has the conversation with the boy’s mom, she
realizes how important it is that he stays at the school until graduation in
June. This causes her to “leave him out of it” as much as she can, as his mom
requests.
-Her treatment of the old, blind nun shows her loyalty and
protector instincts.
2. Why doesn’t Sister James tell Sis. Alouicious about the
undershirt in the locker?
This could be the most incriminating piece of evidence and Sis.
James doesn’t share it. I’m not sure why, but I would guess because she really,
really wants to believe that he didn’t do it and that’s the driving force
behind it.
3. What does Sis. Alouicious have doubts about at the end
when she started crying to Sis. James?
I don’t think she was doubting Father Flynn’s guilt at all
here, in case you were confused by this. She was confessing her doubts about her faith. It was a
full-circle movie moment, drawing back to the sermon at the beginning. The
conversation leading up to this shows she was still convinced as ever about the
Father’s guilt, because of the way he gave up and didn’t fight when she lied
about phoning the nuns at his previous pastors. But because the montsenior
promoted him even after she told him everything, that fueled her doubt in her
faith. How could the men be so corrupt? Sis. Alouicious is sure this Father has
molested many boys, and now he is the principal of an entire school?
