Compare Movie Doubt with the Novel Doubt - Research Paper Example

Doubt Order No. 518720 The movie Doubt and the play differed from each other in more ways than one. Some of the general difference we find in ‘A Parable’ and ‘Doubt’ the movie is that the script of the play is more direct and more compact as when compared to the script of the movie Doubt. The movie script was expanded to accommodate more characters and sub- plots. The cinematic visuals component as demanded by the movie was incorporated into the script. A play requires greater immediacy of action and more emphasis is laid on the tension of the dialogue.

In ‘Doubt: A Parable’ these components are very articulate and emphatic. In the movie Doubt, the actress Meryl Streep overdoes the tyrant nun’s act. The movie’s plot follows the play plot in every important issue, but has included a few extra scenes that do not come in the play. The scene involving the cat and the mouse was not part of the play but was incorporated into the movie. The quote “who keeps opening my windows” was not part of the play, but it was added in the movie to give it length as the play is shorter than the movie.

In the movie the feminist angle was more emphasized whereas in the play the racial tension is more pronounced. When a movie is adapted to a play script, some of the essence of the original work gets lost. In the case of ‘Doubt,’ the playwright has been able to retain the core essence of the struggle portrayed in the play and has managed to turn his simple stage production into a post-Vatican II period piece. This is very evident in a particular scene where Meryl Streep had to perform while rendering her dialogue.

One of the most cathartic one liners of modern American theatre is “I have so many doubts! I have such, such doubts!” These lines were spoken when the script reached its most poignant moment. In the movie, the actress Meryl Streep could not replicate the final breakdown of Aloysius as beautifully and movingly as it was achieved in the theatre production. The said line boomed throughout in the theatre and resonated till it shook the audience. In the movie version the same effect could not be achieved as there was a division caused by the screen between the audience and the action.

However, ‘Doubt’ had tackled both the sides of a coin, in that it had the religious clergy on one hand and the vice and virtues on the other. It trying to pass on its message of what or who is right or wrong, ‘Doubt’ leaves the audiences in sheer ambiguity as to who is speaking the truth and who is not, who is to blame or who should not be blamed and who is to be punished and who should not. The play seems more engaging when compared to the movie and the movie falls a bit short due to not strictly adhering to the themes laid out in the play.

References Doubt Makes a Liar of me http://vjmorton.wordpress.com/2009/01/01/doubt-makes-a-liar-of-me/ Movie Review: Doubt  http://blogcritics.org/video/article/movie-review-doubt/#ixzz1Ie3eq06s