“Doubt can be as powerful and sustaining a bond as certainty,” a character utters with confidence in “Doubt.”

The status between belief and disbelief is portrayed flawlessly by Meryl Streep, who impersonates a distrustful nun in John Patrick Shanley’s big screen adaptation of his Tony Award- and Pulitzer Prize-winning play.

Set in the crucial year of 1964 at St. Nicholas, a Catholic church and school in the Bronx, “Doubt” depicts a thoroughly constructed clash between Father Flynn (Philip Seymour Hoffman) and the school’s frightening principal, Sister Aloysius Beauvier (Meryl Streep), which takes place both inside and outside the minds of the characters.

The disagreement surrounds the fate of a 12-year-old black boy, Donald Miller (Joseph Foster II) who studies at St. Nicholas school. He is the first and only black student in the institute and Sister Aloysius suspects that Father Flynn sexually abused him.

“Doubt” represents an outstandingly refined piece of work that aims to deliver utmost results through each of its pieces and thus reveal the beauty of introspection and interior conflicts.

In spite of the fact that the film’s focal point is the mystery behind the supposed abuse, the plot manages to analyze other moral aspects as well. Thus, one should not be surprised to discover analogies that bring to light philosophical questions, conservative and less traditional values, the startling difference between inflexibility and candidness, mere doubt and certainty based on clear evidence. The picture also includes hints on whether it is apposite to take measures notwithstanding the fact that one does not have sufficient proof and other suggestions with regard to the limits of intuition and personal beliefs that are not universally accepted.

Philip Seymour Hoffman’s character inspires goodness and integrity, doubled by a remarkably charismatic side, which is the sole source of suspicion, at least for viewers. He often joins his students on different activities and is not afraid of God when he smokes and has a drink.

Meryl Streep’s persona, on the other hand, is evidently the villain due to her unflustered assurance and fearsome dictatorship. She wants to take the helm of every single element in the school and strives to control other teachers, as well as the students, who are frightened by her cool (and may I say evil) attitude.

Sister James (Amy Adams) has her doubts with regard to Father Flynn’s guilt, but Sister Aloysius has none. She is determined to make justice in her own way, even if all she has got are mere hunches.

While the plot reaches the highest level of intensity throughout the development of the powerful conflict, it does not fail to examine the characters from a psychological point of view, without letting anything go away. It creates the perfect cinematic world for the John Patrick Shanley’s critically acclaimed play.