First Hit: This is a very well acted film about a very sensitive subject and because we are left with doubt, it is aptly named.
Meryl Streep, Philip Seymour Hoffman, and Amy Adams are extremely gifted actors and in this film you see, watch and know why. They embody the characters they are playing.
Hoffman as Father Flynn is being accused of inappropriate physical sexual contact with one of the students in the school associated with this Catholic Bronx church. The accuser is the school principal Sister Aloysius Beauvier (played by Streep).
Sister Aloysius is a stern strong willed taskmaster and makes it a point to terrify the students into her view of how they need to act in the school. She has some suspicions regarding Father Flynn but when Sister James (played by Adams) tells her of a couple of incidents she noticed regarding Father Flynn and Donald Muller a young vulnerable black boy she begins her relentless campaign to get him out of the school.
When Father Flynn explains the incidents they are perfectly plausible but Sister Aloysius doesn’t believe him. This story becomes one of wills and the strength of wills because there is no evidence and the film gives you not one bit of additional clarification. There is no evidence.
The acting by Amy Adams as the innocent Sister James adds to her ever increasing list of strong performances. Regardless of the genre, she is a very capable strong actress. Hoffman is outstanding as Father Flynn. You believe he is Father Flynn. And Streep, continues to show her power as an actress that becomes the character, taking on yet another accent, and making a believer of me.
Overall: A very interesting film of introspection, faith, tolerance, and doubt.