Crime And Misdemeanors Essay

The movie Crime and Misdemeanors, directed and written by Woody Allen, provides a movie that raises philosophical issues about morality, reality, and the role of religion in society. In Mark Conrad’s writing, Conrad analyzes the film with the thesis that Crime and Misdemeanors is a work that constantly pushes for the idea that the world has no God, no meaning due to a lack of God, and therefore no moral code, which allows characters such as Judah, to get away with murdering a woman without external punishment. Some agree with Conrad’s argument, due to examples such as the one previously stated, but some challenge Conrad’s proposition, in favor of the idea that despite not having a God, certain actions from characters such as Judah, still give

In the end, Judah ends up giving the order to murder Dolores, and claims that he feels no remorse of his actions due to them being justified. Although Judah claims this, Judah’s actions throughout the movie contradict his claims. Examples include Judah going through a tremendous amount of thought before he makes the call to have Dolores killed, such as talking to Ben about his issues, asking others if he had any other options before deciding to kill Dolores was his only option, and having an immense amount of remorse after killing her. From these actions, viewers are given the sense that Judah has some sort of moral code. In short, Judah isn’t a sociopath who kills without meaning, or purpose. He kills as a last resort, which is what anyone would do given the correct circumstances. In addition, at the end of the film, Judah speaks to Clifford about a hypothetical movie where a man kills a woman and is able to live the rest of his days without regret. The fact that Judah even speaks about this hypothetical movie, which is his life, can make the audience think that Judah has not forgiven himself, or is looking for approval for his actions from someone, even if it is not God, because why would Judah speak about his sins if he has truly forgiven himself? This overall, allows some viewers to think that even though