Set in the early 60's Doubt is a rather strange tale of a Catholic priest, played by the quite brilliant Philip Seymour Hoffman, who is accused of inappropriate conduct with a pupil of the Catholic school attached to his church. His accuser is the head nun and school principle played by Meryl Streep, an old fashioned, strong believer in discipline she was always at odds with the priests more modern and open approach to the running of the school and this simple conflict is what forms the plot for the whole film. Are the doubts she has about him right? Or is she using it as a way to get rid of a threat to her existence at the school?.

I was expecting a film based solely around great performances from Hoffman and Streep and it certainly does not disappoint there, both are Oscar nominated and I can certainly see Streep winning hers for this great performance. What I was not expecting however was such a great script, it really is incredibly well written and quite clever. John Patrick Shanley wrote and directed this and I am impressed by how much he has managed to get his characters to say without saying much at all. I am going to read the screenplay this weekend to try and get a better feel for how he wrote it but watching the film I remember being very impressed. I would say it would be a great script to study for anyone who is interested in writing drama.

An intelligent script, two of the best actors alive and Cinematography by Roger Deakins (who is easily the best DP around). Not a bad combination and thus not a bad film at all, well worth a watch and definitely worth a read at sometime.