Crime and Punishment: Comparing and Contrasting "The Godfather" and "A Clockwork Orange"

Both The Godfather (1972)and A Clockwork Orange (1971) feature men in power establishing and maintaining their authority through violence and crime. Michael, from The Godfather, successfully employs threatening and murders to win respect and become Don. Alex, the protagonist of A Clockwork Orange, uses ultraviolenceto gain admiration and control over his little group of brothers. Despite the fact that they commit almost the same crimes, their punishment is different, everyone forfeits what they value most.

When a man wants authority, he needs someone to rule over. For Michael, it was family; firstly, he needed to put everything in order in his closest circle, so with peace at home he would be able to conduct “business”. The importance of the family for the Corleone can be explained by the fact that they were immigrants, so family relations mattered most. For them almost everyone who was not Sicilian, more narrowly not a Corleone, was a potential enemy. Violence became a method of maintaining the ruling position. It is extremely disturbing to realize that the characters, very moving one minute, in the next scene are likely to blow out an opponent’s brain over a tablecloth. Still it is nothing personal, just their way of doing business as usual.

Compared with Corleone’s, Alex’s ruling was also totalitarian and based on fear. He said that a true leader knew when to punish and when to show generosity. While Alex was absent, Georgie made some changes in their plans, and Dim supported him. Such shift of power was unforgivable to Alex. Therefore, to show who is a true leader, he beat them. Afterwards, he took them to a bar and offered a drink. Alex tried to create a group, some kind of family, a union. He put his need for authority and importance into his ruling. His obsession with violence and destruction was a defense of his vulnerability and inferiority. He desperately tried to maintain his image of the true leader, so he did not disdain to use any means, the same as Michael.

Both protagonists had lived through some metamorphoses. Over the course of time, Michael changed from a “right” man into a cruel “Godfather” of the mafia. For a great while, he despised family business, only after an attempted murder of his father did he have a new look at it. He felt that he had the power to protect his darlings and do everything for their happiness. He was no more disgusted with violent methods, and perceived them as the way to achieve goodness. Michael hoped that one day he would angle the family into legitimate enterprises and the Corleone were, in fact, inkling toward social and financial respectability. During the whole film, we can observe his astonishing metamorphosis; it makes us think about human’s nature, ability to adjust to the environment.

Comparatively to Michael, Alex was “wrong” from the beginning, and only pretended that he wanted “to be good” to get out of prison and continue his old way of life. In jail, he continued to manipulate everyone, he only pretended to be obedient. Even when he read the Bible, he imagined that he was on the Roman’s side and beat Jesus. He tried to escape the punishment by ruse, to convince everyone that he cared; he just responded right to the treatment, not meaning it. He did not believe that punishment would contain medicine that could build strong aversion to violence. He became “good” only because the capacity to perform a violent deed was simply taken away from him, but inside he was the same. In his case, doctors made changes in Alex, although it was hard to define their actions as humane.

Explicitly depicted murders by shotgun, garrote, and booby-trapped automobile become an inextricable part of The Godfather background. The fact that crime goes unpunished is scary and alarming. And it does; nevertheless the Corleone family suffered punishments that were not limited to sudden ambushes on the streets or elaborate assassinations on throughways. The Family lost their son and brother Sonny because of the betrayal of their brother in law Carlo. Michael was devastated when Apollonia died in a car because of a bomb meant for him. Eventually, Vito had a heart attack, partly because of the age, but mostly because his health was undermined after an attempted murder. The family was the most valued thing for Michael, so the biggest punishment for him was betrayals and assassinations of his darlings.

It seemed that Alex’s true punishment was not the incarceration, but Dr. Brodsky’s treatment. Because then he lost the power of choice and was not able to continue doing what he liked, all the violent deeds now caused physical pain. Because of the innovative treatment Alex lost his will to violence and power over the others. He became a member of that obedient flock, which was easy for the government to rule over. After the treatment, he even could not bear to listen to the ninth symphony of Ludwig Van Beethoven, his favorite piece of music and composer, to the accompaniment of which he committed an unsuccessful suicide. Everything he loved the most now caused enormous pain that became the biggest punishment for him.

The topic of crime and punishment are strong magnets that will draw fans to watch such films. Both movies, The Godfather and A Clockwork Orange, portray the flaws of modern society and remind that criminal life will not lead to any good. Even when the man wants to change and move on to something better, his past will follow him. These films prove that the payment for all your foul actions will eventually come to you and find the weakest place to hit.