MovieChat Forums > Doubt (2008) Discussion > Only on this board are people adamant th...

Only on this board are people adamant that the priest was innocent


We aren't told explicitly because it's interesting for the film. But if you can walk away from that film thinking the priest was railroaded I feel for your future children (if you have any).



spare me the 4 post long rants, as I've seen the movie three times.

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If you can walk away from this film not knowing that the nun was a despicable liar, I fell for your future children.

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My thought was that this was about a clash of opposite personalities/styles. The nun was rigid and from the moment she disliked the priests' homily it seemed that she was out to get him. The priest was laid back and kind. She disapproved of that. Even after she found out that the boy was being beaten at home by his father (that's why he was drinking the sacramental wine)she STILL wanted to believe that the priest had given him the wine. She was an awful person. She would have done well hunting witches in Salem,MA a few hundred years ago.



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ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED??!!

Maximus Decimus Meridius

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Grimaldi, do you flush the water on your toilet after you sh!t? If you don’t, my message ends here.

But if you do, you must know that when you do it, you are a sister Aloysius yourself.
I avoid movies with religious subjects b/c many are crap conventional bs…i avoided this movie for a long time I discovered it recently.Maybe you don’t know but „Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light” that’s the subject of this movie.
That’s all about . It’s not about love, compassion as the priest tries to convince etc. It’s about „the warm feeling that is not the sensation of virtue”, the same feeling „any drunken has for his bottle of rum”, it’s about „a dog that bites is a dog that bites” „about being a cheat”
As sister Aloysius says. Despite Aloysius’s pivotal role, this movie is dedicated to sister James. She’s the epitome of innocence and only true innocence can seize dirt, she has unaltered instincts.

It is also about those feminine values movies rarely talk about. Unconscious instincts about what’s right and what’s wrong. I feel comfortable there are sisters Aloysius out there. When everybody wants proofs I prefer healthy instincts that avoid tragedies. Did you see Polanski’s Rosemary’s baby? I think you should

From what I know Hoffman was told from the beginning the priest was a pedophile while Streep and Adams didn't know it. It was good for the dramatic energy of the movie. The theatrical play is named: Doubt. A parable. The movie was directed by the same guy who wrote the play. I wonder why you still discuss this matter?

In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.

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Interesting post, AndreeaMariaVlasceanu. Thank you.

It’s not about love, compassion as the priest tries to convince etc.

Well yes, I think it is, but not exclusively, nor for everyone. Isn't the whole point of the play how all parties see the issue through the prism of their own doubt and suspicions? Sister Aloysius sees everyone as suspect and flawed and having to be diverted from their own true nature. She creates bleakness, but believes she's pruning the dead branches that are at risk of falling. It's notable tht she never questions her own. Father Flynn, conversely, sees his role as filling the gaps in people's lives, and trying to encourage new growth. The conversation about the Christmas Pageant demonstrates their fundamental differences in attitude very clearly. I think Sister James is right in her comment on Sister Aloysius simply not liking Father Flynn, and distrusting him because of the things about him that irked her. The point is, we simply can't know whether Father Flynn was guilty or not.

From what I know Hoffman was told from the beginning the priest was a pedophile while Streep and Adams didn't know it. It was good for the dramatic energy of the movie.

That doesn't mean he actually was a paedophile. The important thing is that those who want to read it that way need to be able to see validation for that point of view in the performance. Shanley's comment on the Blu-ray is interesting, where he says that really the last act of the play (or film) happens after it actually ends, when the people in the audience discover that those they watched the play/film with didn't actually see the same play or film that they did.

I do think that anyone who wants to demand that people reach the same conclusion they did have actually missed the point of it. It's not about certainty.



You might very well think that. I couldn't possibly comment.

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I fell for your future children.

Wow. Considering the subject matter that this movie deals with, this is one of the most apt yet disturbing typos I've ever seen.

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Yeah it's much better to jump to conclusions and condemn people without evidence than to assume people are normal.

"There's nothing to fear but fear itself" was even quoted in the movie. But something tells me you're the type to see a male at a playground and assume he wants to touch kids.

You fear for everyone's kids, why? What's your intention?

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I agree with her logic that if her "lie" or trial balloon did not contain facts, he would not have left.

The fact he exploded in rage when she told him this lie is also not in his favour.

Furthermore, the fact the boy had alcohol on his breath DURING CLASS when he came back from that peculiarly timed personal meeting was never explored. The "drank altar wine" incident was obviously on a Sunday. There is no reason he would have access to that during a meeting during class time. That alone would be improper.

I'm not fond of priests anyway, but he seemed like a creepy slimeball.

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