Doubt (2008)

dir. John Patrick Shanley
writ. John Patrick Shanley (play and screenplay)
feat. Meryl Streep, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams, Viola Davis

Watching Doubt made me keenly aware of the common dramatic approach particular to plays that I think of as the "slow draw." It's a different technique from the "slow build" common to all drama, by which the story begins calmly, introducing the characters and their world, leaving time to build up to the climax. The slow draw works by presenting the world so plainly that it almost seems boring, something the viewer has seen before, characters interacting in familiar ways in familiar settings, with nothing particularly compelling about the current version. But the play is slippery, taking a turn here and there that suddenly makes the world new, something askew. When best played, as it is in Doubt, the world changes by degrees, drawing the viewer in, raising new questions faster than answering them, always leaving with a few left spoken yet never directly addressed.

Another impressive quality of few films and plays, is the pursuit of a single theme, where most of the important elements of the story encircle that idea, raising it, turning it around, exploring it from every angle. Rarely does a film do that as completely and effectively as Doubt, and even more rarely can the title of the picture sum up that theme in a single word.

It is a great joy to see such dramatic heavyweights as Streep and Hoffman go head to head with such great sparring material. And Adams is a powerful supporting character, wonderfully representing youth and hope. And Viola Davis deserves a new award for single scene stealer, an astounding showing and a surprisingly impactful influence on a film given her brief appearance.

Doubt nears perfection as a story and film, only stumbling in its final minutes, as it reaches for a play-worthy moment of catharsis, unjustified for the character we've seen. It is a moment that shuns the close-up, deserving to be trusted to a subdued long shot, more honest for both the character and the audience.