Doubt (Blu-ray Disc)

As it typically is with any DVD or Blu-ray I receive for a recent theatrical release, I had seen Doubt only a few months ago and was not directly drawn to the film and took to the special features first. I had a good experience with the film in the theater and felt it deserved its accolades since its accolades were primarily aimed at the acting, which is superb, and the writing, which is equally impressive. The film itself has a few bumps along the way and I think writer/director John Patrick Shanley could have tightened it up a bit and made it even more intriguing and mysterious than it already was without losing any of the other ins-and-outs the plot naturally conjures up.

Doubt is based on Shanley's stage play of the same name in which a Catholic priest is suspected of having involved himself in inappropriate behavior with one of the young students at Saint Nichols Church School. While the question of his innocence is the film's primary plot thread there are several other elements sure to get your brain spinning. Even though I believe the film has a few issues it is certainly worth one viewing and if you love films merely for the acting this is one you cannot go wrong with.

In terms of supplemental material, the longest of the four included featurettes is "From Stage to Screen," a 19 minute mini-doc in which Shanley guides a discussion of the film's origins from a stage play with interview footage from all four primary actors (Meryl Streep, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams and Viola Davis) including a sit down interview in which Shanley discusses the film with Streep.

Next is "The Cast of Doubt," a sit down interview with Streep, Hoffman, Adams and Davis with "Entertainment Weekly" writer/reviewer David Carr. It has a few interesting tidbits, but is rather weak overall and serves more as a puff piece. Then there is the "Scoring Doubt" featurette, which is pretty straight forward taking a look at Howard Shore's score and finally "Sisters of Charity" is a rather interesting little 6:28 featurette with four of the nuns Shanley interviewed in preparation for the film, one of which, Sister Marita James, served as the inspiration for Amy Adams' character and taught Shanley in elementary school.

Finally comes the audio commentary with Shanley, which proved to be quite interesting, primarily due to how personal the story is to him. Not only is the Amy Adams character based on a nun that once taught him in grade school, the film was shot at the same school and in and around the neighborhood he grew up in. As the film opens he just sits back and begins reminiscing with the scenes playing on screen and you get the impression this film may be even more personal than that, but to what extent I wouldn't even dare assume.

Overall this is a solid Blu-ray release. The features aren't so abundant they become tiresome and the ones that are presented appear to have all been made specifically for this disc and not regurgitated second hand material which seems to be increasingly populating home video releases as of late merely to make it appear as if the disc includes more content.

As to whether or not this film is worth a purchase is a really tough call. The acting is so good in this movie it really does add a lot to the worth of the picture. The film looks brilliant in high-definition and I wouldn't blame anyone for thinking it was a worthy addition to their collection. I expect I will be giving it a watch again in the future and it is certainly one to consider sharing with others.