When beliefs and laws fail

Opal 2022-11-12 22:50:31

"Your life is no longer complete when you are wronged...

It's as if God banished you into a barren land. I've asked God...I think we've all asked what to do, and God said: do the right thing.

I think if I did, my world would be whole again..."

"So is it complete now?"

The tutor's lips trembled, but he finally stopped dodging and looked at the detective: "But I did the right thing."

I haven't read the original book, and I don't know how much influence this remark had on Poirot's final decision, but it did bring a lot of shock and reflection to the audience: what is justice where the law can't take care of it?

Compared to common detective suspense films, the pace of the story seems a bit slow, but the outburst at the end and the thought-provoking ones deserve four stars or more.

Finally, a wave of starring David's acting skills, the eyes of walking in the snow before and at the end of the mystery, are so contagious!

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Extended Reading

Murder on the Orient Express quotes

  • Mary Debenham: You said of the woman in Istanbul that she knew the rules of her culture and knew what breaking them would mean. So did Cassetti.

    Hercule Poirot: [harshly] And so do you!

    Mary Debenham: When you've been denied justice... you are incomplete. It feels that God has abandoned you in a stark place. I asked God... I think we all did... what we should do, and he said do what is right. And I thought if I did, it would make me complete again.

    Hercule Poirot: [coldly] And are you?

    Mary Debenham: [long pause, then] But I did what was right.

  • Lieutenant Blanchflower: If I may speak out of turn, sir... I think it unjust that one mistake cost Lieutenant Morris so dearly. He was a good man... who was involved in an accident.

    Hercule Poirot: [turns to face him] Unjust?

    Lieutenant Blanchflower: He made an error of judgement. He was a good man.

    Hercule Poirot: It did not have to end in suicide.

    Lieutenant Blanchflower: I think he believed he had no choice.

    Hercule Poirot: A man like your friend, Lieutenant, always has choice, and it was his choice to lie that brought him into difficulty with the law.

    [He turns away]