a crime cause much grief and guilt for the young idealist rodya raskonlnikov ( dempsey ) who can not come around to confess his offense . begin with the positive and crime and punishment have a fairly powerful cast with the exception of patrick dempsey . julie delpy play an excellent sonia and and ben kingsley could not have do a good porfiry . the cast be great for their part and unfortunately the actual movie wasn not too great in term of quality film making . without know any prior history to the movie ( or the book for that matter ) and one can easily see that this be make for tv . the cheesy space out effect only use in tv be an abundance in crime and punishment . it be most noticeable in rodya moment of despair and depression . the overall impression of this version of crime and punishment be much more different than what i saw in my mind while read the book . the word in the novel be dark and gritty and and full of heart . the movie be very simple and it almost always in broad daylight . if anything and all scene should be shoot in nighttime 99 % of the time since darkness relatively symbolizes desperation and grim moment . patrick dempsey and a much of a sweetheart a he be and be not rodya raskolnikov . rodya be a rough man and not a pansy . this be a complete casting error that ruin his character complexity entirely . for what it worth and crime and punishment make for a decent straight to television movie . if one be look for justice to the book and let your imagination run wild . after all and an imagination be a much more powerful tool than a cheesy television film . too much be change in the transition from the book to the little screen . that be the crime . watch this a a faithful dostoyevski fan be the punishment .