Death on the Nile (Death on the Nile), Kenneth Branagh's hit film starring Gal Gadot, grossed almost $137 million at the global box office after a long wait from the public: shot in 2019, it suffered the consequences of the pandemic that fell on humanity. It is the second time that the British filmmaker and actor has worked a text by Agatha Christie, the legendary author of mystery books, and again played the main character, the no less legendary detective Hercules Poirot.
If you didn't see this title in movie theaters, you have a new chance: it came to streaming on Star+. We summarize five reasons not to miss it.
1. If you like mystery plots...
It meets all the requirements! It is based on a novel by Agatha Christie, the literary teacher of the genre. In addition to finding out who committed the crime in a practically closed space, such as a cruise ship, he goes into the psychological side of thrillers, for which everyone is suspicious.
When it seems that nothing is going to happen, something happens that grabs the public. And from there it moves towards the turns that every work of mystery must take. It also achieves the delicate balance of not revealing everything but offering different variants of solution that keep the attention of the audience, who thus work with the detective.
Death on the Nile has a plot so closely adapted to the mystery genre that this film is the second to be made: the first version is from 1978 and featured Peter Ustinov in the character of Hercules Poirot, accompanied by stars such as Bette Davis and Mia Farrow. In 1997 BBC made a radio adaptation (with John Moffatt in the voice of the detective), in 2004 it had a television version within the cycle Agatha Christie's Poirot and in 2007 it inspired a video game.
2. It has an impressive cast
In addition to starring its director, Kenneth Branagh, Death on the Nile has a cast that includes Gal Gadot, Armie Hammer, Annette Bening, Tom Bateman, Russell Brand, Ali Fazal, Dawn French, Rose Leslie, Emma Mackey, Sophie Okonedo, Jennifer Saunders and Letitia Wright, among others.
The critics particularly highlighted Brannagh's work as Poirot, a detective famous for his mustache as well as his extraordinary ability to deduce. In addition to having recently won the Oscar for the Belfast script, Brannagh directed Thor and Cinderella and worked on Tenet and Dunkirk. He was previously widely recognized for his adaptations of William Shakespeare, including Henry V (nominated for an Oscar in direction and acting) and Hamlet.
Gadot shows off his charisma to the fullest and wears the fashion of the thirties particularly well. The Israeli actress is recognized for Wonder Woman, several films in the Fast and Furious franchise and the super hit Red Notice with Dwayne Johnson and Ryan Reynolds. Other works celebrated in the reviews are those of Bening (The Grifters, American Beauty, Being Julia) as Euphemia and Bateman (Da Vinci's Demons, Cold Pursuit) as Bouc, Poirot's assistant.
3. The character of Hercules Poirot
The Belgian researcher is one of the most important creations in 20th century literature. Agatha Christie included it in 33 of her 66 novels, two plays and fifty short stories; she particularly enjoyed the Poirot of Death on the Nile because she thought that story was “one of her best travel books”.
The character mattered so much to the writer that she participated as an advisor for the launch of The Alphabet Murders in 1965, and among other tasks she had to give her approval to the Poirot mustache played by Tony Randall. But the public also loved the detective, to such an extent that it was the first fictional being to get an obituary in The New York Times, in 1975, when Curtain: Poirot's Last Case, a novel in which the detective dies, was published.
4. His great photograph will make you feel that you are traveling in Egypt
Filmed with 65-millimeter Panavision cameras, Death on the Nile takes the landscape and iconography of Egypt to the fullest. With a cinematic style similar to that of Murder on the Orient Express, Brannagh's first foray into the world of Poirot, is not as rich in detail as the top-down perspective of the camera but puts the lens at the service of landscapes, in particular the Nile River, the desert and the archaeological treasures of Giza. Computer-generated image retouching does not affect the beauty of photography.
5. If you liked Murder on the Orient Express
Released in 2017 and also directed by Brannagh, who made his first version of Poirot here. With Bateman as Buoc, the friend who runs the Orient Express and gets him a ticket on the train, the story is also set in the 1930s. It begins when, on board and on the move, a suspect (played by Johnny Depp) is killed; the noises coming from his cabin are followed by an avalanche that derails the locomotive and stops the train. A plot of kidnappings, suicides and more murders emerges when the true identity of the dead man is known.
As in all Christie's work, the motivations could move more than one suspect and are of deep psychological interest. The dramas of lives unfold as Poirot and Buoc investigate.
Murder on the Orient Express also had a stellar cast: Michelle Pfeiffer, Willem Dafoe, Judi Dench, Penelope Cruz, Josh Gad, Derek Jacobi, Leslie Odom Jr and Daisy Ridley.
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