Above, the last scene of Doubt. Spoilers, obviously, it’s the last scene of Doubt. If you never saw Doubt, don’t watch the above video. Instead, watch Doubt, and then come back here and we can discuss it.
Hey guys, I know I left you all hanging a couple days ago with my I-understood-the-ending-of-Doubt-and-nobody-else-did-MIC-DROP routine, and I was going to write a long post explaining what I meant, but earlier today I learned that my plane to Puerto Rico tomorrow night is actually leaving TONIGHT, so I’ve been running around town all day trying to get my shit together. I didn’t have time to do laundry so I went to Target to get some clean socks and while I was there, I saw the cute barista from the cafe I like with her boyfriend, which kind of felt like seeing your teacher in the summer and I pretty much got a heart attack. We made eye contact, briefly, but then I pretended not to recognize her, and she either pretended not to recognize me or actually didn’t recognize me, we’ll never know for sure.
So now I’m packing like a mad man — what are people wearing in Puerto Rico these days? — and canceling all the plans I made for tomorrow because I thought I had an extra day.
But real quick: Doubt. And if you’re still reading, this is where I’m getting into spoilers, so if you never saw Doubt because you were too busy seeing Frost/Nixon (total ripoff of Kirk/Spock, am I right?), go see it now — it’s a prequel to Julie and Julia, you’ll love it.
Anyway: this ending. I feel like when Meryl Streep (I don’t remember her character’s name and neither do you, so shut up) says at the end, “I have doubt,” a lot of people took that to mean she had doubts over whether Father Flynn was guilty and she was regretting the actions she had taken. I can see how that could be a possible reading of that scene, but no that doesn’t make any sense and it’s totally wrong. What she’s doubting is her allegiance to an institution that doesn’t take these allegations against Father Flynn seriously, a church that claims to be doing God’s work, but won’t investigate the possibility of horrible wrongdoing. Meryl Streep has dedicated her whole life to this organization and has worked under the belief that everything she’s done is in service of some greater good, and now, as she “steps away from God,” for the first time she’s questioning her dedication to the church and perhaps even to God Himself and that doubt terrifies her, and that is why she breaks down in tears and I find that so moving and powerful, and so much more interesting than “So, do you think he did it, or what?”
Maybe you got that too, maybe everybody got that and I’m an asshole for being presumptuous, in which case, congratulations, you are exactly as smart as I am. If you didn’t get it, that’s okay, I’m sure there’s a lot of stuff you get that I don’t. Like Tree of Life — you’re probably smarter than me when it comes to that movie, so now we’re even. The point is it’s the holiday season and we should all feel good about ourselves. I’m going to Puerto Rico for a week so I’m not going to complain. Happy whatever you choose to celebrate to you and yours. I’ll see you when I get back and I’m sure there will be much to discuss.
