The movie Doubt: Did he or didn't he? (warning: possible spoilers)

[aristocatz]

We just saw this movie last night.

I don't think the priest did it. I felt like he was just trying to show love & compassion toward his church & trying to make it more like a family. The nun disagreed that those philosophies & saw him for something different.

My SO disagrees and thinks the priest was guilty.

What did you think?

 

[DeluxePrincess]

It's been a few months, but I thought he was guilty when I watched it. They never really do come out and tell us, do they?

 

[wvjules]

That one has me . I have no idea whether he did it or not. Great ending though!

 

[Imzadi]

They never really do come out and tell us, do they?

I thought that was the whole point. The name of the movie is Doubt.

 

[nuke]

My theory is that he was covering up for one of the other priests in the rectory. The thing with his last parish was probably an inappropriate relationship with a parishioner. not a child but a women.
The reason I say this is because he was promoted with his next assignment. I know the church covered up a lot in that time but he would have needed his pastors recommendation to get a promotion.

But who knows! I think that is the genious of the movie.

 

[DeluxePrincess]

I thought that was the whole point. The name of the movie is Doubt.

Oh, now it all makes sense LOL.

 

[Disney Doll]

I saw it when it was a play...very well done.

The first thing we all have to remember is that the "setting" of the play was the 60's I believe. The Catholic Church was quite different then, priests and nuns were thought of quite differently then, the "social" strata between priests and nuns in the Catholic Church was quite different then, the "social strata" between religious people and lay people was different then, heck...the social strata of the whole world was different then.

Looking at it through "2009" eyes, with what we now know about pedophilia in the RC Church, it comes as no surprise that many folks will think "Oh, priest, guilty, the nun was right".

But, add into it an "over-zealous" nun, with a rather "strong" personality & more old-fashioned beliefs who seems somewhat "annoyed" with the subservient role of women in the Catholic Church. Perhaps she sees this as a way to knock a priest down a few pegs...push her agenda a bit.

Take a younger priest who can come off as a bit "condescending" to the "older generation" of religious person, who came to this new parish under somewhat "suspect" circumstances & is paying questionably close attention to a child who may already have some "issues" (as "issues" were described in the 1960's).

Take a mother who says as plainly as she can without actually coming out and saying it that her son, to whom the priest has seemed to be paying "special attention" is gay. In the 1960's, that was HUGE. We may not be perfect now as far as gay issues are concerned, but we are leaps and bounds above what we were back then.

Rather than a vehicle to figure out who was "right" vs. who was "wrong", I see the play as a vehicle to make us think..there's alot of gray areas there.

If the priest is a pedophile, then it's wrong, but if the priest isn't a pedophile and he's really just giving a kid who would have a rough time some extra attention and protection, well then is that really so wrong? maybe it will help the kid's self-esteem.

And if the priest is a pedophile, then the nun is right to try and do something about it, so is she really so wrong for her to want to protect a child from a pedophile???? Maybe she's not trying to push her own agenda.

The whole play is about doubt...doubting yourself, doubting your judgement, doubting the word of others, doubting the norms of society as they were at the time...

 

[bubie2.5]

I think he did.

 

[LuvCuteBoys]

I don't think he did... the young boy in the movie reminded me a LOT of my nephew and I thought the priest was so compassionate with him, knowing that he was having a hard time adjusting.

 

[themilesfamily]

Wasn't this a great movie? Meryl Streep -- fantastic, as always!!

I thought he DID do it. Didn't the nun tell him that she had talked to a nun at his previous parish and had found out that he was molesting boys there, too. (We find out later that she had not, but was using this to fish out his reaction.) When she told him this he seemed to stop his denials and became much more like, "Why are you doing this to me?" She told him he must leave her school. And he didn't seem to argue with her at this point. He seemed resigned that he had been caught again.

The next thing we know, he's leaving that particular church -- and we know that he DID resign on his own, because the sister mentions that in the last scene -- but the hierarchy has moved him to a bigger church/school.

I interpreted the sister saying, "I doubt," at the end, as a reference to her doubting the entire church hierarchy and its decision-making. Here she had told the higher-ups that this man was molesting children in her school and what do they do? -- they give him a promotion -- probably due to all of the buddy-buddying he had done with them, and with previous higher-ups. Kind of a good-old boys club that just moved priests along.

 

[BelleWDW]

I think that is the genious of the movie.

I think Meryl is the "genious" of the movie. That woman can play any dialect on planet earth, can't she?

 

[LuvCuteBoys]

This was actually the movie that prompted me to post the "I think Meryl Streep overacts" thread... LOL.

I thought she was okay... but Amy Adams was awesome. The movie kept me glued to my seat, which I wasn't expecting. But it wasn't because of Meryl.

And I had a terrible time with her character. I think she just didn't appreciate the more relaxed style of the priest. She planted that seed of doubt in Sister James' head. I found her to be incredibly manipulative and I was very turned off to her character. She claimed to care that he may have hurt a child, but didn't pursue it. She just wanted him gone so she could have her strict, rigid church back.

 

[themilesfamily]

I think the reason she had become tough and rigid was because it had happened before at the school. She saw the signs and saw it happening again. These priests come in and want to change the rules around -- do things differently -- loosen things up -- to give them better access to the boys. I think she learned this the hard way.

Something I noticed -- when the priest was talking about making the church "friendlier" his one suggestion was for him to, "take the boys on a camping trip."

If I already had suspicions that this man was molesting boys, this would be a huge red flag.

I did love Amy Adams, too!! This is my favorite role for her so far...although I loved her in "Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day," as well.

 

[LuvCuteBoys]

My favorite Amy Adams role was the first movie I saw her in... Junebug. Great movie!

I believed in the innocence of the priest, so the camping trip didn't bother me. My heart broke when someone broke that little trinket he had given to the boy (why can't I remember his name??) I

 

[ZachnElli]

I thought he was guilty at first, but then changed my mind. Amy Adams changed her mind too!

 

[Bareacuda]

I've seen alot in my 50+ years that have looked(on the surface) quite odd.
But hearing and listening fully to all sides, I have changed my mind many times.


The title says it all. I doubt he did it.

Ann

 

[Planogirl]

I still can't decide. But I just loved Meryl Streep in the movie and yes, Amy Adams was certainly good too.

 

[themilesfamily]

Question for those who think the priest DIDN'T do it: Why do you think he resigned from the parish?

ETA: I'm not going to argue anyone's point. I just thought the fact that he resigned after being confronted was compelling.

 

[Imzadi]

I thought he DID do it. Didn't the nun tell him that she had talked to a nun at his previous parish and had found out that he was molesting boys there, too. (We find out later that she had not, but was using this to fish out his reaction.) When she told him this he seemed to stop his denials and became much more like, "Why are you doing this to me?" She told him he must leave her school. And he didn't seem to argue with her at this point. He seemed resigned that he had been caught again.

The next thing we know, he's leaving that particular church -- and we know that he DID resign on his own, because the sister mentions that in the last scene -- but the hierarchy has moved him to a bigger church/school.

Actually, I don't think she ever comes right out and says that he was molesting boys. I *think* she says, 'I talked to a nun and she told me what you did." But never comes out right and says it, in case she doesn't get the details right, or is wrong.

When he stops and asks what he's supposed to have done and why she is doing this to him, she again is vague and says something like "You know why."

She was hoping to trap him and that HE would say what he had done.

I got the impression when he heard that a nun was spreading the tale, that once again rumors and inuendoes of what he had done had caught up with him. How do you fight a rumor? Even the people in Hollywood have a hard time squelching an untrue rumor.

He said very succintly, "Why didn't you ask a priest? Why did you asked a nun?" Like the nuns were spreading rumors about him. That it is hard to defend a rumor that keeps going around in such an underhanded way.

When you think about it, that's exactly what Merle's character did. She acted on suspicions, but had no proof. And he ended up resigning under the pressure and suspicion (only) of scandal - maybe, just as he did at the last place.

Merle's character may not have had any more proof he did anything wrong than the last nun, yet BOTH of them forced him to leave, with their suspicions. Hmmm...

 

[Bareacuda]

Question for those who think the priest DIDN'T do it: Why do you think he resigned from the parish?

ETA: I'm not going to argue anyone's point. I just thought the fact that he resigned after being confronted was compelling.

From personal experiance is that some times the harder you fight for yourself the stupider you look.
Some "friends" decited to speread rumors about my sister and her DH that were horrible!!!
Now 18 years later... rumors have gotten unbearable.
Needless to say the rumors are nothing but lies. But whos going to listen to them??? Thoses who truly want to know will ask.

Walking away was probably the best thing to do.
IMHO.