One slightly annoying thing at the end of the film (spoilers)

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I think there are several ways to look at this:

1. Although Mathilde had figured out what really happened, much of the evidence had been destroyed. The letter of pardon was torn up by the fat guy who used one piece to fix his magnifying glass. Then when Lt. Esperanza (the officer in charge of the punishment)reported back to him, he dropped the report into his bath to cover up. I don't know how good the records were in those days without photocopying machines and hard disks, but I believe clearing the names of the condemned men would be difficult, unless the relevant people could be called upon to testify.

2. Although Benoît was pardoned for his self-inflicted wound, at the end he was certainly still guilty of desertion since he took on the identity of a soldier who was already dead, Then under his assumed name, he was supposed to have "died" again in the airship explosion and just went home afterwards. That was clearly desertion.

Similarly, I believe at the end, Manech would simply live on assuming the identity of the dead soldier Desrochelles (whose mother knew about it but had died).

Actually, the fact that he was pardoned only meant that he wouldn't be executed.
But he still would have to face some (long) jail-time.

He would probably be sent to french guyana where the living conditions were awful.


So staying hidden is still the right thing to do for Notre Dame...