The Crow was an American comic book created by James O'Barr and followed Eric Draven's resurrection one year following the brutal murder of him and his fiance, Shelly, so he exacts his revenge. The inspiration for The Crow came from the pain O'Barr felt following the death of his girlfriend, so the book became a coping mechanism that gained enough traction to be adapted as a film in 1994. Following the same story as the comic, The Crow emphasizes the idea of pain and how it can affect a person for better or worse.
Early in The Crow, Draven awakens from his eternal sleep by a crow pecking at his headstone. Reborn, he tries to get his bearings and understand the reason for his resurrection. As his memories return, so does the pain. The hurt and anger he feels drive him to realize that he was brought back for a reason: to avenge his and Shelly's deaths. With abilities gained from the crow, Draven takes to the streets to inflict the same pain he experienced on those who wronged him.
When Draven died, four men broke into his apartment, shooting him and assaulting Shelly. He dispatches the people who killed him, and as he tears through the city looking for them, he garners the attention of The Crow's main antagonist, Top Dollar.
Unlike Draven, Top Dollar sees pain as a commodity and has no problem inflicting it throughout The Crow, since he thinks he can control it. As a result, he receives the worst death of all, experiencing the same pain Shelly did for 30 hours straight. There is no doubt that Draven isn't afraid to exact vengeance, but he also lives to use pain as a motivator and to absolve others of their own.
For example, Draven goes to a pawn shop to look for his and Shelly's engagement ring. While looking, he sees a collection of rings and berates the crooked owner, telling him how each ring represents a life he helped destroy. Draven later enacts his own poetic justice by setting the pawn shop ablaze after shooting those same rings through his shotgun. At that moment, those same lives that endured so much pain got their revenge, through Eric.
Furthermore, Draven's death affects more lives than his own, including his young friend Sarah. She was close to both Draven and Shelly, and their deaths hit her hardest, but by seeing Eric again, she get closure. As a parting gift, Draven cleanses her drug-addicted mother of the heroin in her veins, giving her another chance to be a better parent.
Another ally in The Crow is Sergeant Albrecht, who stayed with Shelly as she suffered. After the murders, he could never fully move on, and their deaths hindered his career. Albrecht later gives Draven the closure he needs by giving him the memories of Shelly's pain, the same pain that kills Top Dollar. By reuniting with Draven, Albrecht works past the pain of his guilt and uses his newfound strength to help his friend during The Crow's climax.
The Crow shows how destructive or constructive pain can be through the actions and words of Draven. When Draven exacts vengeance, he shows how pain is a cruel lesson because hurting others often leads to an excruciating end. In contrast, when helping his friends, Draven shows how pain is temporary and isn't meant to change a person negatively. This lesson is best shown when he reminds Sarah that it can't rain all the time. While pain hurts, a person can either succumb to it or rise above it, but either way, it will change them.
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