The Devil Wears a Habit

In the religious drama "Doubt," the much-heralded stage smash gets the big-screen treatment and puts the questions of religious faith, the nature of moral obligation and, um, doubt on trial.



The intentional unreliable nature of the moral conundrum at the center of the film doesn't offer up a lot of Christmas cheer, but it is not designed to be congenial.



It is not recommended for those in the mood for the dumb comedies populating theaters at the moment, but for the rest of us, it is a pungent roller coaster ride starring some of the most talented actors on the planet.

The subject matter is compelling, the dialogue is potent and it brings up a lot of Big Important Ideas relating to human nature and religious doubt.



Set in the halls of the St. Nicolas Catholic School in the fall of 1964, it is a time of enormous change. The parochial school's humorless principal ( Meryl Streep ), a mean-spirited middle aged nun, is running a reign of terror on the students in the name of maintaining order and discipline.



It is a broad caricature of a role - sort of a dramatic counterpoint to Streep's iconic role in "The Devil Wears Prada" - and it is deliberate.



In a nun's habit, she patrols the halls and is more than a little reluctant to accept the changes that are engulfing the nation. The ring-a-ding-ding part is that she can't abide the liberal sermons of the charismatic Father Brendan Flynn ( Philip Seymour Hoffman ), the broad-minded parish priest attempting to bring the school's strict customs into the modern era.



The thoughtful priest treats his congregation as human beings and his broad-minded sermons center on the idea of religious doubt, but more important, he has become a mentor to one of the school's charges, Donald Miller ( Joseph Foster II ), a lonesome middle school student.



Then things get interesting. The impressionable Sister James ( Amy Adams) starts seeing things that trouble her about their relationship. In particular, she notices that Donald has returned to class upset after a one-on-one meeting in Father Flynn's office and has the smell of alcohol on his breath.



That seed of suspicion is all Streep's character needs: no child molestation at St. Nicholas is going to be tolerated and it is up to her to contain the situation. There is no proof that such a situation happened at all but she feels it is her moral obligation to toss Father Flynn under the bus in the name of religious absolutism. 

It might be unappealing, but the film's greatest strength is in getting us to challenge our assumptions to see the different sides of the argument.  



The fact that Donald isn't called in to tell his side of things is odd, but his mother ( Viola Davis) more than fills in the gaps in a heart-stopping scene that scratches at such societal ills as race, class distinction and homophobia. In a brief career-transforming performance, Davis does the impossible and acts Streep right off the screen.



It is all leading up to a huge confrontation scene and the actors don't disappoint. It is too bad director John Patrick Shanley undermines them and tries to distract us through a lot of tilted camera angles, dim lighting and uberliteral metaphors that are about as subtle as a sledgehammer. In spite of his meddling, the scene is fair, balanced and challenges our opinions about the argument, but more than that, it is great cinema.



The proceedings offer up a feast of great acting. It is undeniable at this point that Streep is the greatest actor of our time, and though she hammed it up a bit too much here and there, she is headed for her 4,715 Oscar nomination.

In a change of pace role, Hoffman is more than up to the challenge of squaring off against his formidable co-star. It is a difficult role since he is required to decide if the character is innocent or if he is a good liar and he's not telling.



It places a lot of demands on the audience, but good things come to those that are patient. There might be doubt about the right side of the argument to choose, but there is no doubt that it is one of the best films of the year.