My latest piece for Religion Dispatches is an essay on John Patrick Shanley's film Doubt, a parable about Vatican II, gendered power, and sex abuse scandals.
On the surface Doubt is a torn-from-the-headlines story about the abuse scandals that have rocked the Church over the last decade. At its heart, however, Shanley’s story is a parable of Vatican II. It's critical here to point out that Doubt is set in 1964, in the midst of the Second Vatican Council; in that context the story reflects the Church’s growing pains. Sister Aloysius is the old church, authoritarian and inflexible. Father Flynn is the new order, the jocular, friendly face of a Church whose pastors no longer turn their backs to the congregation.
I saw the play on which the film was based during its Broadway run, and it was, simply put, one of the most amazing things I've ever seen. The movie is very good, but not quite that good. It turns the volume up a little, which does away with some of the subtlety and points things a little more toward melodrama. Nevertheless, the story is still powerful; the tug-of-war between the two principal characters is an incredibly compelling conflict. I'm pretty sure Meryl Streep saw the play too; she definitely borrowed a couple of mannerisms from Cherry Jones, who originated the role.
Read the full review here.
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