Meryl Streep received her fifteenth Oscar nomination for playing Sister Aloysius, a domineering nun who suspects that a priest (Phillip Seymour Hoffman) is sexually abusing a young black boy and enlists the help of a somewhat reluctant young nun named Sister James in order to help her put an end to the priest's actions.
Meryl Streep was always a shoo-in to be nominated for this film, but a win seemed to be somewhat of a long shot, given that Kate Winslet was considered extremely overdue for an Oscar at this point and Anne Hathaway was gathering great praise and accolades for her performance in Rachel Getting Married. Streep tied with Hathaway for the Critics Choice Award, but her absence from the ceremony didn't really make this seem like a big win and after losing the Globe to Winslet, her chances of winning her third Oscar didn't look that promising . However, she pulled off a Best Actress win at SAG leaving Hathaway in the dust (Winslet won in Supporting for The Reader) and Hollywood was widely reminded that it had been quite a while since Meryl had graced the Oscar stage. Her chances increased greatly after that but I don't think she had any real chance of winning due to Winslet being too strong of a contender to beat.
Doubt is an excellent film-powerfully executed and extremely compelling. Is it a little too overbearing with it's symbolism and devices? Yes. Is it a little stagey? Yes. But the film's compelling moral dilemma is too strong to resist. There is fabulous acting throughout and the writing is fantastic(besides the storm stuff lol).
The character of Sister Aloysius is one that is often felt to be a caricature or a vileness. To my mind, she most certainly isn't: She's someone who greatly believes in her faith and in her responsibility as Mother Superior as well as Principal of the school at large. She is someone who sees evil everywhere and believes in strict adherence to rules and to appearances. But she does have a heart and I honestly believe that it was in the right place the whole time. Little is known about her past besides the intriguing fact that she was married before joining the church. In my opinion, Sister Aloysius's certainty probably comes from some sort of past experience or trauma that makes her unwilling to even openly consider the possibility that he is innocent, at least that is how I interpret Streep's interpretation of the character. Streep plays this nun as a woman on a crusade, driven to stamp out all evil at all costs and is driven to setting a high moral standard for everyone to follow, especially Sister James, who is rather naive and oblivious to any possible wrongdoing by her pupils.
Streep's character may seem one-dimensional, but Streep shows us that she is strong, determined, caring, and extremely intelligent. Streep understands her character perfectly and nails all of the aspects of her- her vulnerability, her humor, her strength, her natural mistrust in others. She and Phillip Seymour Hoffman play extremely well off of each other as do she and Amy Adams and of course Viola Davis(in an incredible performance BTW). In her final scenes, she superbly shows how her strength is shaken by Father Flynn's resolve and how SPOILER ALERT that she is not sure that she has done the right thing by finally removing him from the school and the church. For me, it was easy to identify with her character more then anyone else in the film due to also seeing evil in many places where others may not believe it to be there. Streep is also very specific and detailed in much of her characterization, either it be her line delivery or her body language, showing us the Sister's reactions and thought processes wonderfully.
All in all, I find Meryl Streep's performance in Doubt to be extremely high in quality even though the material she is working with has it's flaws and her Bronx dialect can be a bit overly mannered at times. She gets
