Doubt, 2008

Directed by John Patrick Shanley

Acted by Merly Streep, Philip Seymour Hoffman

-----------

Father Brendan Flynn: You haven't the slightest proof of anything!
Sister Aloysius Beauvier: But I have my certainty! And armed with that, I will go to your last parish, and the one before that if necessary. I'll find a parent.

Father Brendan Flynn: You have no right to act on your own! You have taken vows, obedience being one! You answer to us! You have no right to step outside the church!
Sister Aloysius Beauvier: I will step outside the church if that's what needs to be done, till the door should shut behind me! I will do what needs to be done, though I'm damned to Hell! You should understand that, or you will mistake me.

[last lines]
Sister Aloysius: Sister James...
Sister James: What is it, Sister?
Sister Aloysius: [crying] I have doubts. I have such doubts.

Father Brendan Flynn: A woman was gossiping with her friend about a man whom they hardly knew - I know none of you have ever done this. That night, she had a dream: a great hand appeared over her and pointed down on her. She was immediately seized with an overwhelming sense of guilt. The next day she went to confession. She got the old parish priest, Father O' Rourke, and she told him the whole thing. 'Is gossiping a sin?' she asked the old man. 'Was that God All Mighty's hand pointing down at me? Should I ask for your absolution? Father, have I done something wrong?' 'Yes,' Father O' Rourke answered her. 'Yes, you ignorant, badly-brought-up female. You have blamed false witness on your neighbor. You played fast and loose with his reputation, and you should be heartily ashamed.' So, the woman said she was sorry, and asked for forgiveness. 'Not so fast,' says O' Rourke. 'I want you to go home, take a pillow upon your roof, cut it open with a knife, and return here to me.' So, the woman went home: took a pillow off her bed, a knife from the drawer, went up the fire escape to her roof, and stabbed the pillow. Then she went back to the old parish priest as instructed. 'Did you cut the pillow with a knife?' he says. 'Yes, Father.' 'And what were the results?' 'Feathers,' she said. 'Feathers?' he repeated. 'Feathers; everywhere, Father.' 'Now I want you to go back and gather up every last feather that flew out onto the wind,' 'Well,' she said, 'it can't be done. I don't know where they went. The wind took them all over.' 'And that,' said Father O' Rourke, 'is gossip!'

-----------

First of all, the acting by both Merly Streep and Philip Hoffman was great! And because their acting was so great that it really arosed my emotions alot especially when seeing their conflicts. I am not sure whether Father Flynn really did wrong or not, but the doubts itself, without any real evidences, makes both people to get into the serious trouble. Like we see in the psychological studies, human beings have the tendancy to stick to what they started to believe at the first time. True and false is not as much important as their first decision of what they had choose. In other words, if one said Yes at the first moment, he/she inclined to believe Yes to Yes, and vice versa.

This movie pictured very well how people starts to have doubts and how it gets bigger and bigger and how it generates the confliction between two groups.

Lastly, at the last scene when Sister Aloysius spoken, crying, "I have doubts. I have such doubts." I felt it not only depicting her doubts on Father Flynn but also the religious belief as well, because religious belief have no such evidences like doubts.