Meryl Streep is a talented actress, that is not in doubt. What is in doubt, is the guilt of a priest who may or may not have an inappropriate relationship with a young boy. The guilt or innocence of the priest is the central focus of the movie, but it is more about the inception of an idea and the impossibility of shaking it. Phillip Seymour Hoffman is Father Flynn, the accused and he plays the ambiguous priest perfectly, as both sympathetic and potentially sinister. Streep and Amy Adams are the two nuns responsible for the accusations, though it is fair to say that Streep is the champion of these claims. Viola Davis also makes an appearance as the mother of the boy whose detachment from her own son makes the viewer wonder what could possibly exist in her mind to make her seem so careless. The film plays all of the characters against one another in a bloodbath of accusations that are never fully realized.
Cold-blooded though Streep may be, she is as compelling as always.
I’ll rank this one based on my own belief in the priests innocence, I give him odds…
3 out of 5
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