What it’s about
In 1964, the St. Nicholas Catholic School in the Bronx is shaken by controversy when its austere, notoriously strict principal, Sister Aloysius (Streep), accuses popular, reform-minded Father Flynn (Hoffman) of sexually abusing Donald Miller (Foster), a 12-year-old African-American boy that a younger nun, Sister James (Adams), has noticed him mentoring after hours. Lacking evidence and witnesses, Aloysius is driven by her need to root out the threat posed by Flynn. But is he guilty?
Why we love it
Enlisting Streep and Hoffman, two of the finest actors working today, for this Oscar-nominated film based on his own Pulitzer Prize-winning play, Shanley wrings a lot of gut-wrenching drama from his main themes, which hinge on faith and reason, doubt and certainty, progress versus tradition. Wedding past events (civil-rights era) and present-day concerns (the Catholic priest scandals), Shanley concocts a consummate chamber drama that leaves no “Doubt” about the talents of its top-shelf cast.