Another overated film. Don't believe the hype.Poor ending. Nobody even talks to the boy? Evidence? Police? If you want to waste your time put it on.

In 1964 the winds of change are sweeping through Sister Aloysius' (Meryl Streep) St. Nicholas school. Father Flynn (Philip Seymour Hoffman), a charismatic priest, is advocating reform of the school's strict customs, and the first black student has just been accepted. When a fellow nun (Amy Adams) tells Sister Aloysius that Father Flynn may be paying too much personal attention to the student, Sister Aloysius begins a personal crusade against the priest -- despite her lack of evidence. A Catholic grade school could seem like a hermetically sealed world in 1964. That's the case with St. Nicholas in the Bronx, ruled by the pathologically severe principal Sister Aloysius, who keeps the students and nuns under her thumb and is engaged in an undeclared war with the new parish priest. Their issues may seem to center around the reforms of Vatican II, then still under way, with Father Flynn (Philip Seymour Hoffman) as the progressive, but for the nun I believe it's more of a power struggle. The pope's infallibility seems, in her case, to have descended to the parish level. Some will say the character of Sister Aloysius, played without a hint of humor . Sister Aloysius of "Doubt" hates all inroads of the modern world, including ballpoint pens. This is accurate. We practiced our penmanship with fountain pens, carefully heading every page "JMJ" -- for Jesus, Mary and Joseph, of course. Under Aloysius' command is the sweet young Sister James, whose experience in the world seems limited to what she sees out the convent window. Gradually during the autumn semester, the situation develops. There is one African-American student at St. Nicholas, Donald Miller, and Father Flynn encourages him in sports and appoints him as an altar boy. This is all proper. Then Sister James notes that the priest summons the boy to the rectory alone. She decides this is improper behavior, and informs Aloysius, whose eyes narrow like a beast of prey. Father Flynn's fate is sealed. But "Doubt" is not intended as a docudrama about possible sexual abuse. It is about the title word, doubt, in a world of certainty. For Aloysius, Flynn is certainly guilty. That the priest seems innocent, that Sister James comes to believe she was mistaken in her suspicions, means nothing. Flynn knows a breath of scandal would destroy his career. And that is the three-way standoff we watch unfolding with precision and tension. Something else happens. Donald's mother fears her son will be expelled from the school. He has been accused of drinking the altar wine. Worse, of being given it by Father Flynn. She appeals directly to Sister Aloysius. It lasts about 10 minutes, but it is the emotional heart and soul of "Doubt". Doubt. It is the subject of the sermon Father Flynn opens the film with. Doubt was coming into the church and the United States in 1964. After the assassination of Kennedy and the beginnings of Vietnam, doubt had undermined American certainty in general. What could you be sure of? What were the circumstances? The motives? The conflict between Aloysius and Flynn is the conflict between old and new, between status and change, between infallibility and uncertainty. And Shanley leaves us doubting. "Doubt" has exact and merciless writing, powerful performances and timeless relevance. It causes us to start thinking with the first shot, and we never stop. Think how rare that is in a film. I came to a different conclusion seeing this film. The entitled "doubt" was not about Father Flynn's guilt (which I believe becomes apparent toward the end of the film). The "doubt" is manifested in Sister Aloysius as she comes to doubt the institution of the Catholic Church she has devoted her life to. Instead of getting rid of the priest, the church covers up the crime. I think that would be enough to cause anyone to have "doubts". This was the last straw that caused this nun to have an emotional break down, reducing a once rigid woman certain in her beliefs to a sobbing and lost wreck of a human being. To answer the obvious mystery in the film - whether Father had some sinful (or criminal) relationship with a twelve year boy? The one word answer on the platter is 'Yes'. I don't think the plot of this movie made a lot of sense for its 1964 setting. Would a nun in 1964 really suspect a priest of sexual abuse based on nothing more than a shirt being placed in a locker? In 2018, after two decades of priest abuse stories in the media, sure; however, in 1964, at a time when no one would dare criticize a man of the cloth, I have my doubts. Either way, I did enjoy the film and thought it was well-acted.

I called my review "The decision" because it doesn't matter if a person doubts or not finally he/she makes a decision. And this movie showed us one concrete decision of one person.The movie is philosophical, It shows how people influence lifes of each other motivated only by some inside things. How can we decide for other people when we don't have any proofs? This question was the main one in my head after watching this movie. This movie made me think of influence on other people more than of doubts. All people doubt I think. We have the reasons for it because we have so many variants in life. But not all people show it. This is an example of some personal desire to prove the idea you have (I'm talking about Aloysius). Many sides of a person are shown in this movie and it's good to see and think of yourself. After watching it I had many questions to myself. I would recomend this movie to people who want to find questions but not answers. Personally for me I can't answer if Aloysius was right or not. And I can't answer some personal questions after it as well.

The performances of the cast in this film adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize-winning play make you doubt a lot of things, except their brilliance. With this year's somewhat disappointing Oscars this 2008 film was like a breath of fresh air. The film explores a really relevant issue of the Catholic Church and pedophilia. The story takes plays in the 60's American Catholic School where a priest is accused by a school principal of corrupting an African-American altar boy. Unfortunately, "Doubt" didn't get as much attention as more recent "Spotlight" (no pun intended) and stayed underappreciated to some extent. I guess one of the reasons is "Doubt" not being as shocking and revealing as "Spotlight". However, this film grabs your attention right from the first speech by Philip Seymour Hoffman (Father Brendan Flynn) to the last words of Meryl Streep's character (Sister Aloysius Beauvier) and keeps you thinking and doubting. Father Flynn's thought-provoking metaphorical speeches play a big part in the film and show his perspective on things. Actually, there is quite a lot of metaphors in this movie: a cat catching a mouse (Flynn and Beauvier) and weather slowly changing from quite calm to a raging storm are some of the attention-worthy. Regarding cinematography they've made a safe choice by mostly using a very popular nowadays teal and orange color grading. Though using of diagonal shots to emphasize some of the highly emotional moments was an interesting creative decision. But the strongest part of the film is its actors: Meryl Streep, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams and incredible Viola Davis. They were outstanding and mesmerising in their roles. It was a pleasure to watch them not perform, but actually live on screen. It's a pity that none of them got an Oscar. Especially Viola Davis for her short, yet powerful performance. To sum it up, "Doubt" is a remarkable film with interesting and diverse characters played by talented actors, which would make you question your own decisions and think about its consequences. I can guarantee that you won't regret watching this film.