Doubt,Bantams and the like

I enjoyed the film Doubt. An austere version of director John Patrick Shanley's stage play about potential child abuse in Bronx Catholic school in the 1960s, this movie has the benefit of an abundance of ambiguity within the storyline and the characterisations thus leaving all the hard work to be done by the audience. Our sympathies see saw constantly between the emotionally warm Priest (Philip Seymour Hoffman , who may be responsible for inappropriate relations with an isolated black 12 year old pupil), and the fierce, pig eyed witch of a head nun ( Meryl Streep), who makes it her mission to prove his guilt.
Shanley leaves proclamations of blame to the audience and by doing so, lets his actors enjoy the nuances and depths of their characters without being too explicit and transparent.
Streep is absolutely stunning as the nun with more hissing anger than an average rattlesnake, whilst Hoffman sparks wonderfully off her as her slightly weaker but more passively aggressive foe.
I loved the scenes where priest and Nun spar and parry together, it's a pity there is only three or so electric encounters to "enjoy" in the film.
You leave, with more questions than you have answers about motivations, themes and character traits......I feel I need a big chat about the whole thing with Nu, who saw it yesterday!
I let the 6 bantams and the four fat buff chicks out of their shed this afternoon. They are now 8 weeks old and ready for the field once all the snow and frost has gone, unfortunately their confidence is pretty low to be able to face the cold slightly grubby world of the back patio, so I sat there with them for a half hour or so, coxing them out to sit on my knee.

This evening Judy came over for supper.....fish pie..........sherry trifle......and dog attention was the order of the evening......she doesn't seem to mind