Doubt

John Patrick Shanley (Moonstruck) adapted and directed his controversial Pulitzer prize-winning stage play about the conflict between an amiable priest and a hard-line nun, who is convinced of the priest's inappropriate relationship with a twelve-year-old boy. The performances, especially by Meryl Streep, as the intractable Sister Aloysius, and Viola Davis, as the boy's mother, are impeccable. Disturbing and thought-provoking. Mr. Shanley might have spared us the wind, the rain, and the bolts of lightning. His words in themselves are more potent than any forces of nature.