Based on a few little 'odd' episodes Meryl Streep is convinced of the wrong doings of the priest. In order to defend the interests of a small boy, Philip Seymour Hoffman does not want to explain himself and when he does, she does not believe him. You could ask yourself why the priest is so slow to defend himself... but when you are accused of something you did not at all do you just won't defend yourself because you feel it is so unfair to be put into question so lightly! And then, and this has probably already happened to you, the more you give justifications of what you did the less the other believes you and it all adds insult to injury. Sometimes you cannot do anything when someone has judged and condemned you even if it is completely based on wrong perceptions and misinterpretation. This just happens in life to various degrees.
The sermon of the pillow and the feathers is so true. When you spread false statements about someone it then moves beyond your control and like feathers of a pillow fly everywhere if you tear the pillow a piece, it becomes then almost impossible to contain the damage and come backwards... not only because the feathers move all over the place but because it takes a lot of courage to admit you were wrong and to go back to those persons and say you misjudge the person.
In a nutshell this is a very good movie, beautifully acted and touching the ever difficult subject of misjudging a situation (even if the intentions are laudable) and admitting you were wrong. To different degrees this happens all the time in our lives... not everyday but quite often in different situations.
