Review: Doubt (2008)
Doubt and certainty. These two have been at war with each other as long as humans have been discussing religion and faith. Many Christians see doubt as the enemy of belief and faith and do everything they can to eradicate it. Others see doubt as a necessary part of faith and growth in understanding.
At the very beginning of John Patrick Shanley’s recent movie, Doubt, Father Brendan Flynn (Philip Seymour Hoffman) preaches a sermon to his congregation where he asks the question: ‘What do you do when you’re not sure?’
There are two answers to this question: You could acknowledge doubt, exploring it as best you can, accept that there may be things we can never know, and live with the ambiguity that so often is a characteristic of human life. Or you could retreat into a dogmatic certainty, suppressing any doubts, and act forcefully to live as though your understanding is the absolute truth — sometimes wreaking great evil in the process. This choice between certainty and doubt is the theme of Doubt. And what a profound movie it is!
Father Flynn (Philip Seymour Hoffman) is the parish priest of St Nicholas Church School in the Bronx during the fall of 1964 just after Vatican II which called for priests to see themselves as ‘part of the family’ of their parishioners.
The principal of the school, Sister Aloysius (Meryl Streep) is an old-school nun who commands the respect of her staff and students through fear. She is ruthless and rigid. Sister James (Amy Adams) is a new teacher at the school who wants to motivate her students by inspiring them to learn because it is exciting and liberating. Sister James is innocent and naive and struggles to adapt to the governance of Sister Aloysius and is often troubled by her approach to disciplining of the students.
One of the students is the school’s first black student, played well by Joseph Foster. Sister Aloysius begins to suspect that Father Flynn is taking an inappropriate interest in the boy. Her response is swift and ruthless. Sister James is caught up in Sister Aloysius’s campaign when she is recruited to keep an eye on Father Flynn and report any suspicious behavior she might witness.
The problem with Sister Aloysius’s conclusion is that the evidence is ambiguous. But that does not deter Sister Aloysius who is totally convinced of the guilt of Father Flynn. So the story becomes a battle between doubt and certainty and the fate of Father Flynn resides in the outcome.
Doubt is an absolutely brilliant film for a number of reasons. Firstly, Shanley, the writer and director, has sustained ambiguity throughout the story forcing us, as viewers, to come to our own conclusions about what is happening. As the narrative progresses, we must consider new information and perspectives and grapple with doubt and certainty in our own thinking.
Secondly, Shanley has refused to collapse into a predictable Hollywood ending. Those who must always have a satisfying resolution to all their stories may be disappointed. This is cinema at its best — it treats us as intelligent. To watch this movie is to be forced to think for ourselves about the issues and consider our own relationship to doubt.
Thirdly, there are the actors. Meryl Streep is superb as Sister Aloysius. She inhabits her role to such an extent that we forget that it is Meryl Streep. And Philip Seymour Hoffman could not have been better in portraying Father Flynn. The occasions we see these two great actors on the screen together are tense and electrifying. Amy Adams with her engulfing crystal blue eyes provides the path for all of us to take. I was fearful with her when she was timid and I cheered with her when she spoke her mind. The film begins and ends with her and throughout, it is her character which is tossed about with doubt. And finally, Viola Davis, who plays the young boy in question’s mother, offers us a very powerful and emotional performances as she wrestles with this accusation and what is best for her son. She’s only on screen for a little more than 10 minutes, but her range of emotion and timing made those few minutes some of the best in the film.
Doubt is a remarkable movie. It’s provocative portrayal of doubt and the potential evil of certainty is timely, penetrating, and deeply provocative. I hope that Christians will give an eye and an ear to this film especially since we have a tendency to follow a blind, lifeless religion that only results in legalistic hopelessness. Even how most Christians rate movies reflects the need to rethink our ways - we focus on pettiness like - counting cuss words and disregard the message and the effects of the medium itself, and the spiritual aspect of all things we interact with, including film, humanity,and the beauty of life.
I am certain of one thing, Doubt is a fabulous film and I wholeheartedly recommend it.
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Let’s see some examples of this principle at work. In the realm of comic books, Superman, inspired hundreds of new comic features on super-strong, invulnerable adventure heroes. And Marvel Comics’ success, particularly with Spider-Man, the first teen superhero, had many publishers trying for a more teenager-friendly product.
Thanks to the success of Toy Story, Finding Nemo and other works of Pixar, the movie biz is flooded with CGI children’s movies. Nowadays, any animated movie must be totally computer-generated if is to have any chance against the viewing public, or face utter commercial failure. Hence the saying, traditional 2D animation is dead… or at least not meant to be taken seriously. The success of Dream Works’s Shrek series has led to many animated movies with lots of Toilet Humour, pop-culture references, celebrity voice actors, and/or Fractured Fairy Tales. 
Thanks to the success of Even Stevens and Lizzie McGuire, not to mention the eventual stardom of both shows’ leads, Disney Channel is totally saturated with wacky, stock sound effect-laden children’s sitcoms and shows with preppy High School settings. Disney is actually quite the repeat offender. Apparently it comes written into all of their female tweenage stars’ contracts that they will get to release a high-profit CD of cookie-cutter bubblegum pop music within two years of the show’s inception, complete with overpriced tie-in merchandise. For examples, see Hilary Duff, Hannah Montana, and The Cheetah Girls. This also goes for a little movie you may have heard of called Camp Rock, which is essentially High School Musical…at camp!
The Boy Band craze of the late nineties was started by the Backstreet Boys. These pre-fab moneymakers seemed to be “built” from a mix of stereotypes: one or two pretty boys; a rebel with tattoos (rehab optional); the crazy one who gave the really funny quotes in the interviews; one who could actually sing, but looked funny; the sweet, down-to-earth one; and the schmoe. For the most part, good looks and flashy dance moves were a bigger priority than actual musical ability. 
Nowadays, my friends, students, and family, spend a lot of time texting each other. We all have our own reasons. Some say it’s a faster way to communicate, some say it’s convenient and straight to the point. Some even tell me they want to avoid conversation altogether. How far are we going to go with this? Complete plans are made entirely via email and text, these days! People are “hooking up” through texts and meeting online. I even heard of a guy asking a girl to the prom via text message. His response, which was a “no,” came via text as well.
With all that we are doing online, there are some of us that are losing some basic social skills. We just do not know how to socialize. Dating can be done completely online now. It’s a concept I do not understand. I just want to return to an era when everything we do, how we relate and so on, is not all done online. Just the simple things. Like knowing your mate, in real life. The internet in and of itself is not bad . The problem is when you meet people who are so anti-social because they have not learned to meet people in real life or hide behind the screen to camouflage their true nature.
When Bella Swan leaves her mother in sunny Phoenix to move in with her chief-of-police father in dreary Forks, Washington, she meets Edward Cullen, the most mysterious and handsome guy she’s ever seen. She couldn’t take her eyes off him… and he couldn’t take his mind off her. Not only was she smitten with love, but she was in danger of being bitten as well. After all, Edward was a vampire. That’s right, a vampire. 
Many people in religious circles are worried about the “vampire” elements in the books. But our chief concern gravitated more toward Bella’s emotional vulnerability and the graphic sensuality described in the romantic scenes between she and Edward. We’re not talking Harlequin Romance material, but it was enough to make me wonder how young readers would react to the content. For instance, in one scene in her upstairs bathroom, Bella found herself regretting leaving her Victoria Secret silk pajamas in Arizona while Edward waited in her bedroom. In the book, nothing sexual happens, but we catch a pretty accurate glimpse into the thought process of the modern teenager.
Our idea of love is very distant from the love that is expected from us by our Creator. And if I truly love someone, then I truly know them. There is a level to love where it involves pain. Could you honestly say that you would give up your car or kidney or even life for the person in the car next to you? Because, when you love someone from the gut level it will take all of you to be what they need at the sacrificial level. You will sacrifice more than you are able to give. And want to give more. See, I can hope the best for someone, even for someone I don’t know, someone anonymous. I can wish that poverty in Africa would vanish. I can even do something about it. But, the very idea of love at the most precious and valuable level is when you know someone personally and familiarly speaking. 
Few things fire up our emotions like religion or politics. So let’s not talk about emotions. Let’s talk about God’s word. 
Now, I am patriotic. and I know that the man in the white house can either make or break a nation. Can either lead America on a path of destruction and decline or promise and potential. But I don’t foresee any man singlehandedly, or with the help of other politicians, members of the senate and congress, changing the world that we live in.
Now I suspect this sort of calculation misses something. I’ve become convinced that a nation which sanctions the extinguishing of unborn children, and further, the outright execution of near-term infants, doesn’t deserve admiration even if it gets every other policy right.
When they created the city they entrusted a box, containing the instructions on how to return to the surface, to the first mayor. This box was set to open in 200 years. But as it was passed from generation to generation, mayor to mayor, the contents were forgotten and the box was lost. Now the mighty generator is crumbling, causing blackouts that plunge the city into total darkness. The food stores are almost used up and the soil won’t produce food like it once did. There are constant murmurings that the end is near, that darkness will soon engulf them forever. 
First, is the obvious plot line of Lina and Doon’s journey to find the light beyond Ember. Like Lina and Doon, we too live in a world full of darkness where we must fight towards the light—the light of God. Second, is the transformation from the darkness of ignorance to the light of knowledge. Most of the citizens would echo the sentiment of Doon’s manager Sul—played by the incomparable Martin Landau—who says, “I don’t know. It’s not my job.” They go about their daily life with the belief that the darkness is all that there is. 
Doon’s father has lost hope in the builders. He believes that they abandoned them. But Doon knows that they left instructions. And so his father encourages him that, “If you have truth, you must pursue it.” Many people believe that God created this world and set it spinning and has abandoned us. But we know differently. We have the truth. God has left us instructions. But too often we look just like the world. We hope in the same things that they hope in and don’t pursue hard after the truth of God’s word and seek to rid our lives of the darkness and walk fully in the light. 
This shack is a place that he knows well, but has intensely tried to cast from his mind. And the name “Papa” is his wife’s favorite moniker for God. Mack has lived a hard life and though he grew up in an abusively religious family and has been seminary trained he is not overly religious himself and has never been comfortable in church. So after some detective work, he decides to go to the shack to perhaps meet the author of this letter, which he perceives to have been written in hate.
With all of our talk about bipartisan efforts being the pathway to bringing some sanity to our system, then why don’t we force it? Let’s take a page out of reality TV and use a tense and uncomfortable situation to bring change. We would have the primary system as we currently do. Stop the mudslinging, that would get you disqualified. Your ads must present your platform without attacking the person you are opposing, feel free to attack their views, but avoid cheap personal attacks. At the end of the primaries we would have two solid candidates. One that each side is happy with. Lets not drag it out for another 6 months, let’s have the popular election then and there. The winner would be the president and the runner up would be vice-president. In that case, both sides would be forced to work together. Forced to see the common ground and come to a consensus. Perhaps both sides would grow a bit and the country would be better for it. On top of that we film the first 6 months of the presidency and show it as a reality show called “Running Mate.” I smell a hit, where’s Simon Cowell when you need him? Or maybe the candidates should have to convince a panel of all of the living former presidents. So have a 6-week sweeps series where “the formers” ask the contenders questions to see how they would deal with a number of different possible situations. 
Sadly, we live with a flawed system where we have to become lie detectors and determine who we think is the most authentic and truthful. Because I could care less about most political issues, but I want our president to be a person of personal integrity. So I will continue to vote for the man (or woman) who embodies confidence with humility, and has realistic ideas for positive change rooted in a positive moral system. My ideal president would show that they are not a puppet of special interest groups and that they have the ability to stand up for what they personally believe. And in the category of “special interest groups” I include evangelicals. I doubt that either McCain or Obama are more than nominal Christians, they believe in God and think that ethics are important, but they aren’t “Jesus Freaks.” They are politicians before they are theologians, and with that in mind they weigh every word with a constituent counter in the front of their mind. If either were to stand up and say, “I believe that all people are sinners in need of a savior, and his name is Jesus Christ.” You can just imagine the proclamations of intolerance and bigotry that would be leveled. McCain would lose all his independent votes and Obama’s camp would try desperately to spin the statement as a proclamation of personal devotion not political position.
This is why I was not surprised in the least to see that John McCain, at a recent town-hall meeting in Nashville, put none other than Joel Osteen at the top of his list when asked to name an author who inspired him. “He’s inspirational,” McCain said. McCain just a few days ago met with Billy and Franklin Graham and came away will all but an endorsement from Franklin. This is the same man who in 2000 called Jerry Falwell an “agent of intolerance.” Perhaps this is a genuine Pauline conversion. Perhaps the scales have fallen off of his eyes but he has just failed to get his hands on any good biblical teaching. I’m inclined to think that McCain’s love affair with Osteen has more to do with the millions of people that follow him religiously rather than the risen son of God. 
