MovieChat Forums > Murder on the Orient Express (1974) Discussion > The World Prefers Simplers Explanations

The World Prefers Simplers Explanations

posted 12 years ago by yjk316
8 replies | jump to latest

Poirot assembles all the suspects and presents two possible scenarios. One is a simpler scenario; the other is a more complex one. Between these two scenarios, Poirot decides to present the first, more simple one to the Yugoslav police at the next train stop. The second, more complex story, Poirot decides to keep it as a secret shared between the twelve passengers and himself.

The world prefers simpler explanations. The world will not understand the complicated reasons and stories of people's pain, anguish and need for justice.

Stories involving people are always complex. Never are they so simple. Yet the world prefers simpler stories and simpler conclusions. So the true nature of human incidents may be better to be hidden as a secret for those directly involved, and simpler versions be given out to the public. One cannot judge things by outward appearances. One is not qualified to judge until he hears the inner story.

[–] Captain_Augustus_McCrae 11 years ago

I disagree. Most stories are very simple. Man wants money. Man robs store and shoots clerk in a panic. man goes to prison. Or Man loves wife. Wife cheats on Man. Man kills wife and wife's lover. It's mostly in the realm in the realm of fiction that we find complex motivations, plot twists and surprise endings.

"It ain't dying I'm talking about, it's LIVING!"
Captain Augustus McCrae

[–] Low_Rent 11 years ago

And in turn I disagree with you. I have read many true crime stories that has some very complex motivations. Some of these crimes seem too far fetched to believed but in the end, they are actual cases. I would agree that most of the crimes committed are fairly straight forward but there are some that may surprise you.

"Kiss my Converse!" -Sho'nuff: The Shogun of Harlem.

[–] sirmildredpierce 10 years ago

The world prefers simpler explanations. The world will not understand the complicated reasons and stories of people's pain, anguish and need for justice.

That this very complex murder mystery is the single most famous murder mystery ever written would seem to contradict your premise. The world seems to prefer the complex explanations over the simple!

[–] Jimmy-128 10 years ago

In fiction. In real life, Americans, at least, prefer simple (dare I say simplistic?).

[–] movieghoul 10 years ago

The simple solution was selected as one which would appeal to the Yugoslav police, who are definitely not American.

[–] sirmildredpierce 10 years ago

In fiction. In real life, Americans, at least, prefer simple (dare I say simplistic?).

Yeah, that really makes no sense. Maybe you could dumb it down for me since I'm American and I apparently prefer simple (dare I say simplistic?)

[–] otter 10 years ago

They didn't decide to buy the story about the assassin because it was simple, they pretended to buy it because they'd all decided the murder was "justifiable homicide". They were grateful to Poirot for giving them a plausible sounding cover story they could tell the local authorities.

I must say, the ending is a hell of a challenge for a scriptwriter - a tacit decision is made to lie to the authorities and not one person says what they're thinking out loud.

" Jack, you have debauched my sloth! "

[–] DwightFry 9 years ago

Exactly. It's obvious that everyone knows Poirot is aware of the "complex" explanation being the actual one, and Poirot knows they know. Poirot just lets it go because he's rooting for the murderers and considers that the victim deserved what he got for being such a nasty piece that got away unpunished for child murder by the legal system. A highly original and truly unexpected ending for this kind of whodunnits. In fact it's the best ending of a whodunnit I've ever seen.

This is not my signature. This is IMDb's automatic translation of my signature.