Ashley and I recently browsed the aisles of a Wal-mart for the first time in a long, long time looking for clearance-priced Reese's Eggs and eventually found ourselves in electronics browsing the DVDs. We came across an "Easter Movies" display that we found curious. Naturally, there was no Jesus Christ Superstar, Last Temptation of Christ, or even The Passion of the Christ. We were not terribly surprised to find well-known Easter classics Kung-Fu Panda, Over the Hedge and The Animated Passion alongside "old-timer movies" The Robe, The Ten Commandments, and King of Kings.
I didn't pay much mind to this reclassification of things until Tea Party Day this week, where a bunch of xenophobic, anti-government fanatics protested taxation at taxpayer expense (police, facilities, state employees among them who took a day off). The Governor of the State of Texas, Rick Perry, actually got up and fanned the flames here in Austin with talk of secession from the Union. If Mr. Perry had paid attention in Texas History class as I and other proud Texans did, he'd know that the Articles of Annexation of 1845 reserve Texas the right to split Texas into up to five states, but not to secede (as he claimed). Perhaps if he had a catholic school nun beating it into him, he would have.
I've long thought that Texas splitting into five states could be a good idea, along with the dissolution of the Electoral College, but it won't happen. I'll go into more depth on the laughable state of the Republican Party in Texas in a separate post, but this does bear on how I thought of Doubt while watching the top-notch Blu-ray version earlier today. It is truly remarkable what people will claim in someone else's name entirely in vain, peppering their declarations with half-truths.
The Movie
Doubt as a play and movie is a parable on convictions. Those you hold and those you enforce are so subjective that no one is ever truly righteous in their judgment on earth. Rather than spend nearly five hours watching The Ten Commandments with commercials on ABC each year, why not make Doubt an annual re-assessment of one's beliefs? Put that in one of those pre-Christmas Easter Baskets instead of Madagascar 2.
Set at a Catholic school in the early 1960's, the story concerns the convictions of Sister Aloysius (Meryl Streep) and the moral character of Father Flynn (Phillip Seymour Hoffman). The play featured only the two of them and Sister James (Amy Adams) and Mrs. Miller (Viola Davis), but the movie expands things to include other characters at the school, including Donald Miller, around whom the controversy swirls. The controversy deals with the exact nature of the relationship between Father Flynn and Donald, the first black student in the school.
During awards season, I was with an Academy member friend at an after-party for an Austin Film Society screening. When the conversation finally came around to the Oscars (the deadline for nominations not having yet passed), she spoke only of Doubt. One of the reasons the movie works so well, as she put it (and as Shanley does in the extras) is that no two people see the film the same way.
Video & Audio
Here we have a crystal-clear video transfer and Lossless DTS 5.1 audio on the main feature. All the extras are in 1080p or 1080i. This is the type of treatment I can get used to. No need for a do-over in this department.
Extras
Miramax has put together a rather comprehensive set of extras such that I can't really fathom what they would ever double-dip for on this title.
Feature Commentary
Writer/Director John Patrick Shanley
A pretty laid back track from Shanley wherein he mostly relates the reality of the era from which he drew inspiration and his personal history as an altar boy. If you don't have a lot of time on your hands, save it for a raiy day like I did.
From Stage to Screen (19:09)
Shanley talks about the process of adaptation and a reduced version of the history of the show. He chats a bit with Meryl Streep, whose affection and admiration for Cherry Jones' performance of Sister Aloysius is readily apparent. Fluff-free.
The Cast of Doubt (13:50)
Dave Karger from Entertainment Weekly interviews Streep, Hoffman, Adams, and Davis, digging in to their relationship with the play and how they brought their respective voices to the characters on the page. A quarter of an hour with this grade of actors is better than years of acting classes in some respects. The camaraderie between them is truly warm and not unlike that of a company that has been doing eight shows a week for a year together.
Scoring Doubt (4:40)
A film's score is often one of the more invisible pieces of it to the passive viewer. When a score is very well done (as it is here), you don't find yourself noticing it as much as it pairs cleanly with the action.
Sisters of Charity (6:23)
Shanley's interview with Streep carries into this feature which focuses on the real-life sisters who are portrayed in the film, who he consulted in the writing of the play and the making of the film. The most interesting part of their conversation revolves around the changes in the Catholic Church in the 1960's.
Final Thoughts
Doubt has a longer, more enduring life to it than many films released last year. It recalls the era of when most of the best films of the year came from the greatest writing minds on Broadway. I wonder, what if Doubt had been released in 1965?
It would have truly rocked the establishment and the censors back then. "How dare you criticize the church in the wake of a national tragedy?" It's a testament to the repressionist, puritanical leanings of our country that the issues explored are still relevant today. I'm specifically referring to the chain of command in the church and its refusal to modernize and evolve in important ways.
If you really want to provoke thoughtful discussion in a religious household, you'll get more out of watching Doubt than going to mass.
Post Script
I am not nearly the enemy of critics' quotes as some of my friends are (having once worked in publicity), but I must insist that people not use Ben Lyons for these quotes. Quote Ebert, the New York Post, Rolling Stone, and even USA Today, but leave this guy out. When people look at these discs' back covers a few years down the line, his name will either not register as "prestige" or the person reading it will get a bad taste in their mouth. It should say something that this is the only complaint I have about this disc.