In the film, Seraphima’s Extraordinary Adventures and the novel Crime and Punishment themes of not taking responsibility relate to the bible because Jesus tries to say the world’s suffering is not his fault. Firstly, in Dostoevsky’s novel the character, Nikolai finally ends up admitting to the murder of characters Alyona and Lizaveta. He announces to Porfiry and Raskolnikov, “Aliona Ivanovna and her sister Lizaveta Ivanovna, I . . . killed . . . with an axe. Darkness came over me,” he added suddenly, and fell silent again” (862). Right away, if thinking in the context of the bible one may link the idea of Judas being a traitor and getting Jesus killed to that scene. But what’s strange is Nikolai didn’t actually kill anyone. An interesting connection that could be made is when Jesus is questioned about if he is the true messiah. Frankly, his response seems almost lazy because all he says is “My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence” (St John 18:36). So whenever things don’t go right he decides to say that in a place that doesn’t evidently exist is where all things are right. If people murder, kill, abuse, and hurt others on Earth he can’t do anything about it is seemingly what he said. Just as Nikolai blamed a “darkness” that came over him as the reason he killed two innocent people. He did not accept it was him who needed to take responsibility for the death of Alyona and Lizaveta. Which actually makes sense since he didn’t do it. But Jesus did not accept the pain of others when he is allegedly god manifested in human form. If he is god he is responsible for keeping people safe and happy. If he is not god then he should not be allowed to make the ridiculous claim he is. Hiding behind the deception of heaven is a very manipulative idea to use on people and he takes advantage of them. This links to 6:32 in the film Seraphima’s Extraordinary Adventures where a girl is punished for something she didn’t do. The girl punished has reached across the table yanking a slice of bread to give it back to the person next to her. It was wrong for the other girl to have stolen it but the teacher is unaware of who stole it which leads to her making false assumptions. The girl who stole the bread does not take responsibility for her actions and makes another person suffer for her actions. But she does not care since it does not affect her personally. Jesus should not be so easily compared to little girls who haven’t learned how to take responsibility.
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