Not All Trauma is Created Equal

For those that know me personally, I’m really into film and TV. I didn’t get to watch much of either growing up and so I’ve spent much of my adulthood catching up on important culture and experience the magic of film.

I’m posting this clip today because one of the things I do as an artist is to tell the story of how trauma is lived. One of the best films in this regard is Doubt. Doubt focuses on a nun, played by Meryl Streep who discovers a friendly priest (Phillip Seymour Hoffman) might be molesting boys at the local Catholic school in the 1960s. There are a variety of layers to the film including the many sex scandals within the catholic church, which was virtually unknown publically at the time, and also eras racial attitudes and sexual attitudes.

In this clip, Sister Aloyisius approaches the mother of one of the boys to express her concern about how he is being treated by the priest. The sister is amazed at the callous response of the boys other (Viola Davis) and her seeming lack of concern about the matter. Trauma means different things to different people and generation and societal trauma often means some things are simply let go for a greater goal, in this case, getting the boy a good education and going to college. The racial interplay here is potent and so is the interplay of trauma. This film has been out for a while but it is one of my favorite clips and if you haven’t seen Doubt or haven’t’ seen it in a while, this 7-minute clip is worth a watch. Viola Davis’ performance was so potent she received an Oscar nod for Supporting Actress. That is no easy task when you’re sharing the scene with acting titan Meryl Streep.

This is my favorite clip from Doubt: