Hoffman gives as good as he gets, playing the male-hierarchical card with assured arrogance while at the same time nursing, somewhere behind the full lips, graying gold, and tangled eyebrows, a secret sorrow. Simpler is the loss of innocence undergone by unintended whistle blower Sister James, who's so expressively portrayed by Amy Adams that she hardly needs lines. And Viola Davis as Donald's mother, conveying in one scene all the anguished pragmatism her cloistered counterparts are allowed to float above, however violently they swat their wings, will both jar and break your heart.
