Factual error: Both the Yugoslav police officers Poirot is speaking to at the end are black. The chances of a black person serving in the Yugoslav police in the 1930s were zero.
Factual error: Before arriving at Brod station the train goes through high mountains. Between Belgrade (Serbia) and Brod (Bosnia and Croatia) it is all flat with no mountains around.
Factual error: Brod railway station is not (and never was) an isolated railway station with mountains behind it. No mountains are visible from it but the town and fortress are nearby and easily visible from the station.
Factual error: At beginning at the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem in 1936, we see the large plaza at the Western Wall. In 1936 this was only a narrow lane. The plaza was enlarged only after June 1967.
Factual error: The chefs on the Orient Express in the movie are female. Women did not work as chefs in the 1930s and none of the train crew would have been female in any case.
Factual error: When facing the western wall, Poirot orders a man to guard the south gate. The man runs to the left of the frame. The western wall is what remains of the old temple, which lay to the east of the current plaza, so when you're standing looking at the wall you're actually facing east, not west. The man runs the wrong way.
Factual error: In the breakfast scene involving eggs, Poirot refers correctly in French to one egg "un oeuf" (pronounced "erf"). However, Branagh mispronounces the plural. He said "oeufs" ("erfs"). The correct pronounciation omits the f and the s, correctly sounding like "euhh." Poirot is French-speaking so would know better.
Factual error: Poirot refers to the senior police officer in Jerusalem as the Chief Inspector of Police and implies that he commands the police in Jerusalem. The Palestine Police had no rank of Chief Inspector. The three stars worn by the officer were the insignia of an Assistant Superintendent of Police, the entry-level rank for gazetted officers. The head of the Jerusalem police was a District Superintendent of Police, two ranks higher. As Poirot is famously a stickler for detail, it's certainly not a character mistake.
Factual error: The Orient Express had a restaurant coach, four sleeping coaches and two baggage cars, and carried 58 passengers, far larger than the train depicted. There was a conductor always on duty in every sleeping coach and they worked shifts, so more than four would be carried; it's stated that Michel is the only conductor on board.
Factual error: When the steam engine is derailed and is surrounded by snow from the avalanche, there would be a high risk of the boiler and/or firebox overheating. Under these circumstances, the driver would "drop the fire" by opening the bottom of the firebox to drop the coals onto the track. This would cause delay in restarting the train, so the passengers would be taken to safety and warmth by a rescue train.
Answer: Dickens used satire, irony, and humor as a means to express social criticism and political commentary. His novels were filled with comical characters and colorful dialogue. He used a humorous writing style to expose the Industrial Revolution's harsh and negative impacts like poor education, worker exploitation, social inequality, and other societal ills such as extreme poverty, domestic violence, alcoholism, and so on. Poirot is obviously responding to that.
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