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I added a final paragraph (subsequently provided with a heading "Themes") which was deleted by an anonymous editor. I suspect that it was deleted for religious reasons, not for good editorial ones. Considering that the name of the film is "Doubt", and the final line of the screenplay refers to "doubts", I think that it is justifiable to have a paragraph exploring this theme. PeterKidd (talk) 12:52, 7 February 2009 (UTC)
The film was dedicated to a woman known as Sister James (I didn't catch her real name in the dedication). Does anyone know how she relates to the character of the same name? If informtion could be added on this, it would be interesting. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.201.153.87 (talk) 04:47, 11 August 2009 (UTC)
I think the article misses the point of the ending of this film.
From early in the film Sister Aloysius has no doubts whatsoever about the guilt of Father Flynn. This is because she sees him in the playground trying to grab the wrist of a boy who pulls away. She freely admits she has no proof. Father Flynn uses this lack of proof as justification for his argument that she cannot be certain so there must be doubt.
Sister Aloysius is consistent throughout. She proves the guilt of Father Flynn to Sister James by explaining her trick of pretending to telephone a nun at his former parish. If Father Flynn were innocent he would not have been rattled by this. He would have stood his ground and he would not have left his position.
Finally Sister Aloysius bursts into tears and says she has terrible doubts. This comes immediately after she explains her proof of Father Flynn's guilt. My point is that she is actually saying that she has doubts about the existence of God.
This ties in to her comment from earlier in the film that you have to take a step back from God in order to do His will. She repeats that comment to Sister James in the same scene because Sister James is shocked that Sister Aloysius lied. Earlier Sister Aloysius was shaken by the attitude of Mrs Miller who cleverly explains why she'd prefer her son to be left alone and also because Father Flynn was promoted and given control over another school.
There is no way that that Sister Aloysius explains why Father Flynn is definitely guilty and then bursts into tears and says she has terrible doubts of his guilt.
The author of the article missed the twist in the ending.
Sister Aloyisis's trick dosnt prove her accusations. A nun from the previous parish could have falsly accused the priest; he could have been the victem of a misunderstanding or a false accusation of a child; there are any number of reasons why the priest would fear communication with the previous parish other than his guilt. Remember the "feather" sermon at the start...--Aaronsdavis (talk) 02:13, 11 December 2011 (UTC)
A wonderfully acted and directed film. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 109.155.147.52 (talk) 01:38, 6 September 2010 (UTC)
As noted back in 2009, this film's theme, that catholic priests have habitually buggered children seems to explain why this article is composed in such a manner. Unlike the less popular article concerning the play which is the basis for this cinematic work, this "main" article seems to do all that it can to avoid the elephant in the room.
How ironic because the film's presentation of the evidence is made much more obvious than in the theatre version (which is left to the audience's interpretation). Yet none of these cinematic moments are included in the plot, the touching, the looks, or the conclusion (the unwilling boy's smile when he knows Flynn is leaving or the dejection in the submissive boy's eyes). Furthermore why does this article conspicuously not concern itself with the fate of Fr Flynn? I mean he has just been accused of impropriety with children but rather than investigate such matters, the Catholic Church promotes the priest to a position where he is now head of a school. So like the novel From Here to Eternity when Capt Holmes is rewarded with a promotion rather than being kicked out of the service, as in the film version.
Even this very talk page has a "not a forum" tag. How interesting? Another conservative attempt to avoid the elephant in the room that child abuse in the catholic church is such large matter that is has become worthy of an artistic work. This article has all the downplayed style of denial in its finest form. If this article is ever going to be more than an uncomfortable blip in the annals of creativity concerning the Holy See then more work has to be done to express it's deeper meanings.109.150.46.151 (talk) 10:51, 22 January 2012 (UTC)
I have just edited a very loaded sentence in the summary which referred to Sister A's "determination to ruin [Father Flynn's reputation." I agree with the original poster that this article reflects a reading of the film in which Father Flynn is not guilty, though I am not sure that this has anything to do with conservatism or religion. Indeed, a traditionalist Catholic might well point to the permissive, therapeutic atmosphere of Vatican II of which Fr. Flynn is an exemplar as something that enabled, or at least catalyzed, abuse.Stealstrash (talk) 03:26, 30 June 2014 (UTC)
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Thanks TwoTwoHello for your edits at Doubt. The end of the film seems to indicate that she is going through a crisis of faith. If you believe this crisis of faith has to do with her telephone conversation with another nun then let me know why you believe this. JohnWickTwo (talk) 15:13, 2 March 2018 (UTC)
"Aloysius...states that even Flynn gave him special treatment like their private last week."
Private what? Meeting? Captain Quirk (talk) 10:38, 13 March 2023 (UTC)