Crimes & Misdemeanors

I must blame my Introduction to Biblical Literature Professor for the fact that I now own a Woody Allen Movies, "Crimes and Misdemeanors". We had to watch the film in relation to what we were learning about Biblical literature in class. The following "thought piece" was preparation for a further essay on the film. (Essay to follow in the next post). 

In the scene from “Crimes and Misdemeanors” where Cliff is walking with his niece while eating pizza, Cliff seems to wonder about how life is simply not fair. He agonizes over his love for Haley, who is being pursued by Lester, a man that Cliff finds to be shallow, yet is famous, rich, and successful. He explains to his niece that she’ll “find as {she} goes through life that great depth and smoldering sensuality does not always win.” He’s sorry to have to tell her this “truth of life” or words of wisdom. He then goes on to talk about the Rabbi, Ben, who although he is a wonderful guy (and obviously a man of faith) he is poor in that he is going blind, yet he has a great attitude about life. He calls Ben a mensch, which is a person of integrity and honor.

This scene is reminiscent of the message in Ecclesiastes 8 – 9 that talks about how life is meaningless on earth, “There is something else meaningless that occurs on earth: the righteous who get what the wicked deserve, and the wicked who get what the righteous deserve. This too, I say, is meaningless.” (Ecclesiastes 8:14) Further, Cliff’s wonderment at how this irony could occur is discussed in Ecclesiastes 8:16-17, “When I applied my mind to know wisdom and to observe the labor that is done on earth—people getting no sleep day or night. Then I saw all that God has done. No one can comprehend what goes on under the sun. Despite all their efforts to search it out, no one can discover its meaning. Even if the wise claim they know, they cannot really comprehend it.” Although Cliff seems to be wise, he can still not comprehend the reality of life. 
Originally written on 11/1/11 for my Intro to Biblical Literature class