The power of doubt is often more intense than overwhelming certainty and this is perhaps the most important element in John Patrick Shanley’s big screen adaptation of his Tony Award- and Pulitzer Prize-winning play “Doubt.”

The film portrays a meticulously built collision between Father Flynn (Philip Seymour Hoffman) and Sister Aloysius Beauvier (an enchanting Meryl Streep), the fear-provoking principal of St. Nicholas, a Catholic church and school in the Bronx.

Set in the key year of 1964, the disturbing conflict revolves around a 12-year-old black boy, Donald Miller (Joseph Foster II). Sister James (Amy Adams) tells Sister Aloysius about her suspicions with regard to the fact that the young black boy was sexually abused by Father Flynn. Although Sister James has her doubts and describes her thought as a mere hunch, the fearsome principal admits no qualm and swiftly becomes Father Flynn’s biggest enemy. She is determined to make justice and prove that he has sinned, but has no evidence nonetheless.

Father Flynn denies all accusations and, thus, the clash extends to introspection and gives life to several interior conflicts that give no peace to the opposing characters.

The mystery behind the alleged sin brings to light other moral elements as well, including philosophical inquiries, the difference between conservative and liberal values, stiffness and openness, doubt and assurance.

While the plot arrives at the uppermost level of greatness during the growth of the dominant conflict, it also looks at the characters from an emotional viewpoint, without neglecting the various subplots.