DOUBT

MPAA Rating: PG-13 for thematic material.
Runtime: 104 min

How can you be so sure if you didn't have any hard proof? You just have to be certain and rely on your instinct, according to Sister Aloysius Beauvier (Meryl Streep) the principal of St. Nicholas school in the Bronx.

Set a year after JFK is assasinated, as a strict Sister, Aloysius reject modernism and stick to old school rules. As the opposite of strict Aloysious comes the sweet, charming and naive Sister James (Amy Adams). And in the other end Father Flynn (Philip Seymour Hoffman) is the voice of progression at school, he is open to new ideas and close with his students.

Even his first sermon in the beginning of this film echoes the meaning of the film title itself"Doubt", he says, "can be a bond as powerful and sustaining as certainty. When you are lost, you are not alone."

Problems arose as Sister James suspect of Father Flynn wrongdoings with one of his student, Donald Miller (Joseph Foster II), who happens to be the only African-American student in the school. Quick as a fox Sister Aloysious start to build up a case against Father Flynn, accusing him of inappropriate relationship with Donald and vows to kick him out of the school.

Another stunning performance is from Viola Davis as Donald Miller's mother, although only got a 10 minute screentime, she managed to landed herself an Oscar nomination. Even Amy Adams got a nod from the Academy. This is a film that showcase four main actors acting skill and it is no surprise that Meryl nail another nomination, it seems that in every movie she's in, she always got nomination.

Doubt avoids easy answers and makes us even doubt whether Father Flynn really do the wrongdoings. The theme itself is timeless and has a rare quality of keep making the viewers thinking after the credits rolled. In a verbal showdown Merly Streep and Philip Seymour Hoffman) throws up punchline that echoes in our consciousness, did he really do it? If he did why did he has to resign? if he didn't where's the evidence? The viewers were left with difficulties to digest ambiguity and endless doubt.