Top Five Movies with Philosophical Motifs

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5. A Clockwork Orange A Clockwork Orange follows a group of juvenile delinquents, “Alex and his three friends, or "droogs,” who eventually betray him, leading Alex to be found guilty of murder. He has the option of shortening his sentence by going through behavior modification. This forces him to abhor violent acts. The major philosophical topics discussed are morality and free will. Once Alex goes through his therapy he can no longer commit crimes. However, is this truly rehabilitation? Alex would still commit these violent acts if he physically could. If the intent is still there, then Alex has not changed since his sentence. Alex’s victims eventually get revenge and he cannot defend himself due to the behavior modification. This could be seen as cruel and unusual punishment. The good intentions of the scientists have backfired greatly and stripped a man of one of the last things he has, his free will. Towards the end of the movie, Alex is a shell of his former self without the escape that suicide can provide.

4. The Matrix The Matrix follows Neo, a computer programer by trade and a hacker by night. Neo comes in contact with Morpheus, the leader of a resistance group who has been sending him cryptic messages. Once he meets Morpheus, he reveals that reality is not what most people perceive it to be. Humans are connected to a machine, living in pods, as a source of energy for the robotic overloads. While this convoluted sci-fi plot seems to have no connection to philosophy, this question can be traced back to the father of modern philosophy, Rene Descartes. In his famous Meditations on First Philosophy, published in 1641, Descartes argues that we cannot trust our senses to obtain information about the world as they can deceive us. Descartes concludes from this that all of his experiences were the work of an evil demon.

3. Irrational Man A philosophy professor, Abe Lucas, begins his new teaching job at a small town college. He is dealing with an existential crisis, alcoholism and caught in a love triangle. However, after beginning a romantic relationship with his top student, his life finds a new meaning. Unfortunately, Abe overhears a couple's conversation and decides to make the irreversible choice of murdering the man that is causing these strangers pain and suffering. Abe was seeking meaning and value in his life. In existentialism, this is referred to as “the absurd.” Philosophers and authors, Jean-Paul Sartre and Albert Camus extensively discuss absurdism and the difficulty of finding meaning in a chaotic and irrational universe in their respective books, Nausea and The Stranger.

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2. Bandersnatch The Netflix series , “Black Mirror,” which is infamous for it’s dystopian and philosophical motifs, released a full length film on Dec. 28, 2018. As expected with “Black Mirror,” their first movie had to be groundbreaking, and it surpassed viewer expectations. What made this movie unique was its choose-your-own-adventure quality. In Bandersnatch, viewers can chose from seemingly insignificant options, like what the main character, Stefan, has for breakfast or choose between major plot points like suicide or passwords he should be entering. Like all installments of “Black Mirror,” there is a heavy philosophical influence. “Bandersnatch” has a primary focus on free will. When discussing free will, German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche immediately comes to mind. Nietzsche claims that free will does not exist. In his book, The Antichrist Nietzsche argues that man should be seen as a machine. Even if randomness or “generic chaos” is added, this does not affect anything. In regards to religion, Nietzsche argues that if God wills good, but evil still exists, there is no good God and no free will. In Bandersnatch, the viewer gets to play God, although a malicious one. However, the viewer also has limited free choice. There are many “dead ends” which force the audience to start over with a different option.

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1. Crimes and Misdemeanors As the title suggests, the movie directed by the infamous Woody Allen, follows two story lines where one character, Judah, commits a crime and the second character, Cliff, the misdemeanor. Judah pays a hitman to kill his paramour while Cliff has an affair. The most notable and deeply philosophical scene is when Judah visits his childhood home and has a flashback of his family at at a Seder. The topic being extensively discussed is morality. Judah’s aunt believes that there is no God to punish people who act immorally. If the person can live with their sins, then they are scot free. Judah’s uncle, however disagrees. He believes that there is a higher power delegating punishments to the morally corrupt in the afterlife. This four minute scene seems to be a perfect summary of a philosophy of religion lecture and the major dilemmas that are discussed.