Doubt

Well Barbara hasn't bothered to review the film yet, even though she gets all the new releases sent to her, so I had to look elsewhere for an opinion, and I found a wonderful review at Architect Design. He loved it.

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I finally saw the film yesterday. I have to admit I found it rather tedious to sit through for the first half - the story only picks up steam as we become more involved in the crux of the matter: Is the priest a pederast or is he simply a progressive, compassionate associate-pastor whose responsibility happens to be the altar boys and the parochial school attached to the parish? To be sure, both Philip Seymour Hoffman and Meryl Streep play their roles beautifully.

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In fact, Streep's Sr. Aloysius is so good, on first take, her apparent lack of empathy makes her entirely uninteresting, albeit the plot seeks to demonstrate the mean nun syndrome through her character. It rings true, don't get me wrong. However, watch her closely; as superior of the community, she discreetly reveals genuine charity and concern for the women under her charge - that sort of sensibility is often an indication of sanctity in the common life. On the other hand, I'm convinced Aloysius' preference for no nonsense, severe discipline as regards students was simply the way things were done in those days - not just in parochial schools either. Public schools could be just as severe - slaps and punches, slams up against lockers, or paddles in gym, not withholding. (I attended both private and public schools - so I know.) Sr. Aloysius was tough, and though it sounds sentimental - an emotion she evidently had little tolerance for - she really cared for the school children, although she knew from experience how manipulative students could be.

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I think to really understand Sr. Aloysius, one should recall Sr. Vauzou from "The Song of Bernadette" - without giving away the ending - the viewer will thus understand Streep's character - not confusing her final confession with the conclusion non-religious people might assume regarding the issue of doubt.

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At first the film is deceptive in its portrayal of a type of religious monotony frequently associated with conservative Catholicism - which may account for my initial boredom - although I found that the story, along with the superb acting, continued to captivate my imagination hours after viewing it. In my opinion, the film does a fair job in capturing the mood of the Catholic Church in America at the time. But since I was rather bored in the beginning, I occupied myself with picking out styling mistakes - a few of which I couldn't wait to comment on.

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For instance, Hoffman's Fr. Flynn wears vestments that probably were not around at the time - too modern - but even if they had been around - the stole would never have been worn on the outside. In addition, Fr. Flynn's alb was definitely a modern alb - I doubt it was even available back then. He also uses a modern breviary - you can see he has the contemporary Liturgy of the Hours - something that did not exist at the time. Also, I doubt the tabernacle in the church would not have been veiled in the manner shown - with some odd handkerchief thing laying over the top. It would have been veiled in liturgical colors to match the priests vestments.

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Then we watch Sr. Aloysius slapping kids on the back of the head at Sunday Mass. Nuns did do that - but only at school Masses - the daily Mass before classes began. Sundays the kids would have been with their family and the nuns would be up front in the first pew, sitting together as a community. That stuff never happened at Sunday Mass unless a fervent parishioner took it upon herself to correct stray children misbehaving. Another detail I found interesting is when Aloysius makes a subtle complaint about how cumbersome the habits were. Not more than a year or two later, the sisters were out of the traditional habit and into skirts and blouses. But who could fault them for that, the Seton habits were farmer-in-the-dell ugly.

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As for the school culture, in one scene the girls and boys are shown dancing together during music class in the auditorium. The song was Eydie Gorme singing, "Blame it on the Bossa Nova". That would never have happened in Sr. Aloyisius' school - they may have danced the Virginia Reel - but never the Bossa Nova - the "dance of love". Although the song did offer a momentary break in the somber tone of the film - for a moment.

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All in all, the film is fairly accurate as regards Catholic culture of the time, and it never impressed me as being the least bit anti-Catholic, as some people feared. Critics have suggested the ending leaves the viewer in doubt - not so much. I know what happened - most Catholics will too.