My wife and I watched the movie Doubt last evening and I'm wondering if anyone here has also seen this powerful movie and would like to discuss it. The movie is a dramatic portrayal of the conflict between Mother Superior Aloysius played by Meryl Streep and Father Brendan played by Philip Seymour Hoffman around a black gay student in the parochial school for which they are both responsible. There are both stereotypes and traditions in conflict with current issues at many levels in this complex story. Any comments? Was Sister Aloysius justified in her attack on Father Brendan? Was Father Brendan guilty of the accusations that Sister Aloysius brought against him? What is likely to have happened to the boy after this battle between giants?

if anyone here has also seen this powerful movie and would like to discuss it. The movie is a dramatic portrayal of the conflict between Mother Superior Aloysius played by Meryl Streep and Father Brendan played by Philip Seymour Hoffman around a black gay student in the parochial school for which they are both responsible. There are both stereotypes and traditions in conflict with current issues at many levels in this complex story. Any comments? Was Sister Aloysius justified in her attack on Father Brendan? Was Father Brendan guilty of the accusations that Sister Aloysius brought against him? What is likely to have happened to the boy after this battle between giants?    I hadn't even heard of it, though that's not unusual since I pay little attention to movies.  It may well have played at the Castro Theatre, which I walk past nearly every day, considering the theme, but I rarely notice what's playing even there.

My wife and I watched the movie Doubt last evening and I'm wondering if anyone here has also seen this powerful movie and would like to discuss it. The movie is a dramatic portrayal of the conflict between Mother Superior Aloysius played by Meryl Streep and Father Brendan played by Philip Seymour Hoffman around a black gay student in the parochial school for which they are both responsible. There are both stereotypes and traditions in conflict with current issues at many levels in this complex story. Any comments? Was Sister Aloysius justified in her attack on Father Brendan? Was Father Brendan guilty of the accusations that Sister Aloysius brought against him? What is likely to have happened to the boy after this battle between giants?    I hadn't even heard of it, though that's not unusual since I pay little attention to movies.  It may well have played at the Castro Theatre, which I walk past nearly every day, considering the theme, but I rarely notice what's playing even there. I think that you would enjoy the movie.  It plays on the scandal in the Catholic Church involving pedophilia and has undertones of homophobia. There are questions that are not answered in the movie regarding the motives of both Sister Aloysius and Father Brendan.  The viewer is left to draw his/her own conclusions and the only hint is in the last scene when Sister Aloysius pulls a Mother Teresa.  To say more would be to ruin the story for you. Sufficient to say, I thought it was an especially powerful movie. Available via NetFlix.

My wife and I watched the movie Doubt last evening and I'm wondering if anyone here has also seen this powerful movie and would like to discuss it. The movie is a dramatic portrayal of the conflict between Mother Superior Aloysius played by Meryl Streep and Father Brendan played by Philip Seymour Hoffman around a black gay student in the parochial school for which they are both responsible. There are both stereotypes and traditions in conflict with current issues at many levels in this complex story. Any comments? Was Sister Aloysius justified in her attack on Father Brendan? Was Father Brendan guilty of the accusations that Sister Aloysius brought against him? What is likely to have happened to the boy after this battle between giants?    I hadn't even heard of it, though that's not unusual since I pay little attention to movies.  It may well have played at the Castro Theatre, which I walk past nearly every day, considering the theme, but I rarely notice what's playing even * there. I think that you would enjoy the movie.  It plays on the scandal in the Catholic Church involving pedophilia and has undertones of homophobia. There are questions that are not answered in the movie regarding the motives of both Sister Aloysius and Father Brendan.  The viewer is left to draw his/her own conclusions and the only hint is in the last scene when Sister Aloysius pulls a Mother Teresa.  To say more would be to ruin the story for you. Sufficient to say, I thought it was an especially powerful movie. Available via NetFlix.    I like the open-endedness, in that I gather the viewer is not sure what the exact truth is of the actions and behind the motivations of  the characters.  That makes the idea more thought-provoking in that the viewer has to find his own boundaries and criteria.    I think I might find I could have done without the Mother Theresa bit at the end, but Defoe ended Moll Flanders by having her repent and turn into a good Christian woman in the last couple of pages (to foil the censors), so it has precedent, and if the last couple of pages will keep harpies from riding and screaming through the skies, I guess such an ending is worth the intellectual prostitution (as opposed to the real prostitution of Moll before her kind-of-phony redemption).

My wife and I watched the movie Doubt last evening and I'm wondering if anyone here has also seen this powerful movie and would like to discuss it. The movie is a dramatic portrayal of the conflict between Mother Superior Aloysius played by Meryl Streep and Father Brendan played by Philip Seymour Hoffman around a black gay student in the parochial school for which they are both responsible. There are both stereotypes and traditions in conflict with current issues at many levels in this complex story. Any comments? Was Sister Aloysius justified in her attack on Father Brendan? Was Father Brendan guilty of the accusations that Sister Aloysius brought against him? What is likely to have happened to the boy after this battle between giants?    I hadn't even heard of it, though that's not unusual since I pay little attention to movies.  It may well have played at the Castro Theatre, which I walk past nearly every day, considering the theme, but I rarely notice what's playing even * there. I think that you would enjoy the movie.  It plays on the scandal in the Catholic Church involving pedophilia and has undertones of homophobia. There are questions that are not answered in the movie regarding the motives of both Sister Aloysius and Father Brendan.  The viewer is left to draw his/her own conclusions and the only hint is in the last scene when Sister Aloysius pulls a Mother Teresa.  To say more would be to ruin the story for you. Sufficient to say, I thought it was an especially powerful movie. Available via NetFlix.    I like the open-endedness, in that I gather the viewer is not sure what the exact truth is of the actions and behind the motivations of  the characters.  That makes the idea more thought-provoking in that the viewer has to find his own boundaries and criteria.    I think I might find I could have done without the Mother Theresa bit at the end, but Defoe ended Moll Flanders by having her repent and turn into a good Christian woman in the last couple of pages (to foil the censors), so it has precedent, and if the last couple of pages will keep harpies from riding and screaming through the skies, I guess such an ending is worth the intellectual prostitution (as opposed to the real prostitution of Moll before her kind-of-phony redemption). I don't think that I gave anything away as you will see when/if you watch the movie.  For me, the ending was totally unexpected and added to the complexity of the character and the circumstances in the movie.

My wife and I watched the movie Doubt last evening and I'm wondering if anyone here has also seen this powerful movie and would like to discuss it. The movie is a dramatic portrayal of the conflict between Mother Superior Aloysius played by Meryl Streep and Father Brendan played by Philip Seymour Hoffman around a black gay student in the parochial school for which they are both responsible. There are both stereotypes and traditions in conflict with current issues at many levels in this complex story. Any comments? Was Sister Aloysius justified in her attack on Father Brendan? Was Father Brendan guilty of the accusations that Sister Aloysius brought against him? What is likely to have happened to the boy after this battle between giants? I attended a parochial school, and never saw anything like Father Brendan, maybe because my school was Italian, and the pastor was reputed to have a mistress. Anyhow Sister Aloysius rang true. Mother Superiors are both devoted to their calling and very shrewd. Sister Marcellina was not one to be trifled with. As I remember it, the priests stayed out of the school and the Sisters ran the place. I'm not sure what order she belonged to, maybe it was the Sisters of Charity, it was a teaching order, but she would have done fine as the CEO of a hardnosed corporation. It's that blend of vocation and hardnosed realism that is so interesting. Meryl Streep had it pat. I caught the anguish of the gay student's mother. She acknowledged his gayness, maybe wished it was otherwise, but accepted her boy. She thought, certainly misguided, that the priest would shield her boy from the torment the straight kids would impose. His life would have been hell from the bullying. Imagine her helplessness in being able to protect her son. I couldn't place the location, and vacillated between an industrial town like Boston, Providence, or even Baltimore or Philadelphia, and New York. Turned out it was the Bronx.