Doubt: Hoffman And Streep Movie

[SaintOlaf]

I just saw a preview for this movie, Doubt, starring Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Meryl Streep (among others)

This movie is based on a Broadway play of the same name about a priest in a 1960s Catholic School in the Bronx. I'm curious about the content of this movie, I've never heard of it before and was intrigued by the preview but a little skeptical. Hollywood doesn't do much to flatter the Church, so it naturally has me wondering.

Has anyone heard anything good or bad about it?

A few links:

Plot Summary from IMDB:
[url="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0918927/plotsummary"]http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0918927/plotsummary[/url]

One of the Trailers:
[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hpa37qaOp80"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hpa37qaOp80[/url]

[CatherineM]

The review I read said the movie was good, but I got the impression that you may be right about the content being kind of negative on the church.

[HollyDolly]

I may go see it,if it comes to Live Oak Cinema by me.
From the plot synopsis i read I get the impression that either A. Phillip Seymour Hoffman is trying to help this student and break the status quo and trying to work for civil rights,while the Sister Principal feels Hoffman is a threat to her authority and may even be a bit of a racist herself, OR B. Sister thinks there is more to this whole thing, that somehow Father Flynn,Hoffman's chacater has a more sinister motive with this student,ie: sexual abuse. I did see a preview for this in the theatres and also on tv,and the first thought to my mind was the sex abuse scandal.

That is what my take on this is.The sister's habit in the previews was that of the Sisters of Charity founded by St.Elizabeth Ann Seton. Now why the producers chose that order of nuns, I don't know, unless there was such a school and this is based on some true event, becuase Hollywood could come up with some genaric nuns habit.Will just have to watch the movie to find out.

[Maximilianus]

The fellow who wrote the play/screenplay and directed the film probably chose the Sisters of Charity because that's is an order he was familiar with growing up in the Bronx.

The Hollywood foreign press liked the movie, it got 5 Golden Globe nominations. The play itself is award winning and has some Oscar buzz...which in my experience means that the portrayal of the Church might be less than stellar.

From what I understand John Patrick Stanley's movies don't deviate too much from the plays they are based on so if you can read the play you can gauge how negative or positive it is regarding the Church.

[Excelsior1027]

Here's some more info:

[url="http://www.cnn.com/2008/SHOWBIZ/Movies/12/10/doubt.actors/index.html?eref=rss_mostpopular"]http://www.cnn.com/2008/SHOWBIZ/Movies/12/...rss_mostpopular[/url]

[jmjtina]

been reading alot about this movie.

will probably see it if it's my area.

[kujo]

The USCCB felt that the film was attacking the absolutism embodied by Meryll Streep's character, who felt she was correct, despite having any real proof of impropriety. More than a polemic on the Church, the movie seems like a thinly-vailed criticism of the Bush Administration, though the play which the movie is based on was written well before Bush's election.

I wanna see it. I hear it's good, though the subject matter will certainly make me squirm in my seat.

[jmjtina]

Then again, I doubt I'll see this after all.

[Saint Therese]

I don't see how a movie about priests and nuns could be about the Bush adminstration.

[kujo]

[quote name='Saint Therese' post='1727974' date='Dec 14 2008, 11:23 PM']I don't see how a movie about priests and nuns could be about the Bush adminstration.[/quote]

Ever heard of symbolism? Metaphors? Allusions?

[Hassan]

[quote name='kujo' post='1728048' date='Dec 15 2008, 01:37 AM']Ever heard of symbolism? Metaphors? Allusions?[/quote]


Your face is a metaphore

Can you be a little specific? I'm actually really interested in what you mean.

Have you seen the movie? I'm interested in it, but I don't want to just see a Catholic bashing flick.

[kujo]

[quote name='Hassan' post='1728129' date='Dec 15 2008, 03:41 AM']Your face is a metaphore

Can you be a little specific? I'm actually really interested in what you mean.

Have you seen the movie? I'm interested in it, but I don't want to just see a Catholic bashing flick.[/quote]

I haven't seen the movie, so I can only say what I've read and been told by those who have seen it. It doesn't appear to be a "Catholic basing flick," instead more of an examination of avarice, authority and corruption using this ficticious story as a backdrop.

Oh, and by the way.....YOUR face is a metaphor.

[kujo]

Saw it...

Loved it...

You should go see it.

[Mercy me]

The USCCB does movie reviews and this is how theirs begins.

[quote]Doubt —Engrossing drama set in 1964 at a Bronx parochial grammar school where the nun (Meryl Streep) who serves as principal suspects a popular priest (Philip Seymour Hoffman) of impropriety with a 12-year-old black student, and together with a young teacher (Amy Adams), sets out to confront him. Writer-director John Patrick Shanley has successfully adapted his Pulitzer Prize-winning stage hit, deftly recreating the Catholic milieu of the era, with outstanding performances, including that of Viola Davis as the distraught mother of the putative victim. Though sexual abuse is part of the story, it is the balance of doubt and certainty in society at large that forms the principal thematic subtext. Discreetly handled sexual abuse theme. A-III -- adults. (PG-13) 2008[/quote]


You can click [url="http://www.usccb.org/movies/d/doubt.shtml"]here[/url] for the full review. They don't seem to be objecting.

[VoTeckam]

I hesitate to call the movie great but it is, lets say, valuable. The acting is tremendous and there is plenty to learn from the story.