Branagh's Death on the Nile: Review

Death on the Nile (2022), directed by Kenneth Branagh, starring Branagh as the celebrated Poirot. Music, as always, by Patrick Doyle.

The movie is beautifully filmed. It is well-cast. Branagh is rather like Joss Whedon in his ability to collect varying actors and actresses and pull from them focused and idiosyncratic performances. Branagh also tends to take on young male actors--Campbell Scott, Hiddleston, Tom Bateman--and push them forward, sometimes into genres they might not have previously explored.

The movie starts out stronger than Murder on the Orient Express, including a great line by Salome Otterbourne. When Poirot compliments her blues singing, she replies, "I imagine someone I want to punish. And then I imagine them in love."  

And the truth is, pyramids are more interesting than snow-strewn landscapes, and boats are more interesting than trains--in terms of film editing, at least.

One interesting visual is that a number of crewmembers are women. Initially, I assumed Branagh was supplying more female roles. After the second death, I thought, "They are Nephthys figures!" and they are. Dressed always in white shirts and black skirts, they remove the dead. In fact, all the crew members seem to operate as temple or Osiris or priest figures--constantly behind the scenes, working with Poirot to make sure justice is done.

Branagh infuses the film with pathos. In general, he seems more comfortable with the underlying theme of painful love than with the underlying theme of revenge (Orient Express). The Suchet version of Orient Express tackles the philosophical issue with panache. With that story, Branagh was caught between the classic version (which is just a series of great cameos, really) and the intense problem of the actual murder. 

In Death on the Nile, the notable cast functions to tell a story. 

Branagh is also a far better director than the director of the 1978 Death on the Nile. He uses striking images to emphasize larger-than-life moments rather than resorting to strident melodrama. My biggest question was, Will he manage to avoid the nutty melodrama of the books' events, which get weirder and weirder and weirder? 

*Spoilers If You Read Between the Lines*

A third death does occur--and I did not see it coming. It isn't the expected victim. And it is truly painful. The pain--of lost love--is great enough to overcome the melodrama. It also occurs very close to the end. The pace increases without letting up until the final confrontation. 

Death on the Nile is still an impossibly melodramatic story! But unlike every other director, Branagh appears to know what he is taking on and to use it. 

It is a far better film than Branagh's Orient.

I finished my review of Orient by talking about the impressive Johnny Depp. I end this one with a tribute to Gal Gadot. 

The victim, Lynette, is, as Rosalie states, "As easy to hate as to love." She is less likeable in the book. There (and in subsequent film versions), Jackie is perceived as the main relatable character. 

But Branagh does an excellent job giving Lynette, played by Gal Gadot, a more human group of behaviors that make her death regrettable. Gal Gadot delivers. She is as much a lover as anyone else in the film. She deserves tender treatment.