Must See: Doubt

The best stories aren't those that have the most twists or the most action sequences. They affect because they tap into relatable human concerns, plausible conflict, a tangible stirring to which we are all familiar.

This is the power of John Patrick Shanley's Doubt, a film that follows catholic school principal Sister Aloysius (Meryl Streep), who believes the school's first black pupil, Donald (played with quiet urgency by Joseph Foster), has fallen prey to the the parish priest (Phillip Seymour Hoffman). The sister has no proof of this, just her suspicion, made certain by her "experience," as she says, and the minor details of a brief encounter between the boy and the priest that she's culled from the boy's teacher (a magnificent Amy Adams).

We know the priest called the boy to the rectory and that the boy was caught drinking communion wine. But Sister Aloysius believes the boy had been given the wine by the priest. She believes the priest has molested the boy and sets it in her mind to have the priest removed from the parish and its school.

Sister Aloysius' suspicions have less to do with any tangible proof than her dislike for Father Flynn. While she prides herself on being the task-master, he's befriended the community and the children in her charge. His sermons are progressive, he keeps his nails longer than she would think respectable, and he reminds her, even on his first visit to her office, of a church power dynamic of which she is not comfortable.

The urgency of the work isn't in the alleged transgression or the actions Sister Aloysius take to have the priest removed. The urgency -- no, the power -- of the film is in what is not seen. It's in what is implied. Motives of which we can't be certain but of which we have some understanding.

Shanley "invites us to judge, but then carefully lays out reasons why our verdict might be wrong, even tragically so," writes the Toronto Star's Peter Howell. "He wants us to think, something that runs counter to blind devotion."

What we get, is a "mystery tour of human motives and a cautionary tale about the dangers of being sure," says Joe Morgenstern, writing for the Wall Street Journal.

Viola Davis delivers the films strongest performance, a heart-rending portrayal of a mother who wants nothing but success for her son, but who would sacrifice his innocence if his innocence must be sacrificed for the sake of his salvation. Her Screen Actors Guild and Golden Globe nominations are well-deserved. We anticipate an Oscar nod -- if not Oscar gold -- for her suburb work. She's already received the National Board of Review's Best Breakthrough Performance-Female award.