Alfred Hitchcock’s Movie ‘The Wrong Man’ and the Case of the Hereafter

 

Alfred Hitchcock’s Movie ‘The Wrong Man’ and the Case of the Hereafter

God declares His Scripture, the Koran, as a ‘reminder’ that there is life after death. This life is not the only life. It translates and transforms into another life. The Koran gives a detailed account of this. But the Koran does so by addressing our intellect through presenting signs and arguments. If we employ our intellect in reading the signs that abound us, we can raise probing questions and inferences.

One such situation is a case which I came across through the review of Alfred Hitchcock’s movie ‘The Wrong Man’. The movie is based on a true story.

Manny Balestrero was a Queens, New York, musician who was wrongfully accused of robbery in 1953. He worked as a bassist at the Stork Club and was arrested after being mistaken for a man who had robbed an insurance office. Witnesses identified him as the culprit, and he was charged with armed robbery.

His case fell apart when his lawyer, with the help of his family, found evidence proving his alibi. Eventually, the real criminal was caught, clearing Balestrero’s name. However, the ordeal deeply affected him and his family, particularly his wife, Rose, who suffered a mental breakdown due to the stress.

Hitchcock’s The Wrong Man is a faithful dramatization of his story, starring Henry Fonda as Balestrero. It’s one of the rare Hitchcock films based on a true story and focuses heavily on the psychological toll of wrongful accusations.

Manny Balestrero spent about three months in jail before being released on bail. He was arrested in January 1953, and his first trial ended in a hung jury in November 1953. Before a second trial could begin, the real robber was caught in early 1954, and Balestrero was fully exonerated.

Manny Balestrero’s wife, Rose, never fully recovered from the mental breakdown she suffered due to the stress of his wrongful accusation and trial. She was diagnosed with severe depression and had to be institutionalized for a period of time.

According to reports, she did improve enough to reunite with her family, but she was never quite the same after the ordeal. The emotional toll of the case was long-lasting for both of them.

In The Wrong Man (1956), this part of the story is portrayed with great emotional weight, showing how wrongful accusations don’t just affect the accused but also their loved ones.

The question is: Why did this happen? Ever could this couple be compensated? Is there a mechanism where Mrs. Rose would be (should be) brought back to her usual self?

The irony is atheists or agnostics, even skeptical believers, blame it on God, hence disproving the existence of God. Mr. Stephen Fry, an atheist, puts this question (to God): How dare you create a world where there is such misery that is not our fault? He says it is utterly evil, and why should he respect a capricious, mean-minded stupid god who creates such a world that is so full of injustice and pain?

Despite the remark by Mr. Stephen Fry, the question remains how will Mrs. Rose be ever compensated? The world is full of misery, evil, and pain, but what about Mrs. Rose? This question warrants the deepest mind-blowing intellectual argument. The mental faculties have to be reached to the maximum human limit through sheer rationale, rational strength, and the strength of sound arguments.

This exercise means the mind has to be employed to a degree where we have to see beyond. We have to grope and get hold of the arguments which thrive on the unseen realm through arguments. And NOT insist upon, ridiculing, rubbishing, rebuking the arguments claiming to be Divine.

In Mr. Stephen Fry’s opinion, people’s lives are wasted when they do not live a full life. It is ONLY religion which has the capability and capacity to counter this situation. It is ONLY religion that has the prowess to tackle Mrs. Rose’s predicament and restless soul. It is, therefore, ONLY GOD, who has the answer and panacea for Mrs. Rose.

Mind when employed to its full potential in seeing beyond rises to heights where the famous adage ‘seeing is believing’ is reversed to ‘believing is seeing’.

God pokes the intelligent mind to infer when it states in the Koran (51:49): “And We have created everything in pairs so that you may receive a reminder”. The word ‘reminded’ means reminded of the Hereafter. Pairs have a complementary ability. It complements each other. Day and night, husband and wife, the earth and the sky, so too, this world has a pair - the Hereafter, which complements life here in the world.

God ‘reminds’ and pokes the intelligent mind in the Koran (7:57): “It is He Who before [sending down] His mercy drives forth winds as glad tidings. Until when they lift clouds laden with water, We propel it to a barren piece of land and send down rain there; then bring into existence from it fruits of various kinds. In this manner, We shall raise up the dead as well; it may be that you are reminded.”

God’s full compensation to the aggrieved shall manifest in its full glory and majesty when He ‘reminds’ us in the Koran (30:50): “So, [you too rest assured and] observe these signs of God’s mercy how He brings to life the land after it dies. Indeed, it is He Who brings the dead back to life and He has power over all things.” The word ‘mercy’ in the verse implies that the (aggrieved) dead shall be shown mercy!

God presents the case of the ‘certainty’ of the advent of the Hereafter by mentioning the stories of the oft-repeated messengers of God in the Koran. These messengers are mentioned in the Bible and the Koran. The Koran mentions them in various chapters but does so succinctly in Chapter 54, Al-Qamar. While doing so, it mentions the story of Noah, Hud, Saleh, and Lot (peace be upon them all).

If we look closely at these stories in the Koran we see a common pattern among them. A commonality that is consistent with the tales of messengers. In Chapter 54, after mentioning the stories of the four messengers, God ends the paragraph with a verse mentioned four times. The verse is Koran (54:17): “We have made this Qur’an very appropriate for reminding. So, is there anyone who shall take heed!?” This verse is mentioned further in the same Chapter in Verse 22, 32, 40.

What is this verse telling? The people of the tribes of these messengers were decimated after a while. The faithful ones were saved and others perished. All four addressees of the messengers were meted out the same fate. The question is how and why? God sends His prophets to His people so that they are reminded of their existence and warned of the life to come. More often than not, the prophet is rejected, made fun of, ridiculed and at times killed.

Among the prophets God chooses some as His messengers. The messengers are under the direct protection of God, Koran (58:20-21): “[You should know that] those who show enmity to God and His Messenger, it is they who shall be humiliated the most. This is because God has decreed: “I and My Messengers are destined to be dominant.” In reality, God is extremely Powerful and very Mighty.”

Once the messenger conveys the truth that is the message of God conclusively, in that the truth is conveyed conclusively and with no excuse left for the addressees in accepting the message of the messengers, God decimates the non-believers and saves the faithful. This way God creates a miniature day of judgment through them on the face of the earth.

This is empirical evidence the Koran presents in forwarding the Case of the Certainty of the Advent of the Hereafter. The ‘Reward and Punishment’ reserved for the Day of Judgement where the faithful have to be rewarded and willful rejectors have to be punished is created here on earth for all to be ‘reminded’ of the Day.

It will be pertinent to mention here the Koran, therefore, is a narration of the warning of the Hereafter by Muhammad as the messenger of God. The whole corpus of the Koran revolves around the case of the advent of the Hereafter. All its reasoning and arguments point towards the biggest event the earth is to face.  

Rightly so, further in the same Chapter, Al-Qamar in the Koran (54:43) God is ‘reminding’ the addressees of Prophet Muhammad that the earlier people were stronger than you yet they perished. These were the tribal leaders of Makkah called the Quraysh: “[O People of the Quraysh!] Are these disbelievers among you any better than them or is there an acquittal written for you in the scriptures?” And then God mentions the reason the leaders of Quraysh were willfully rejecting the message of God, the Koran (54:46): “No! in fact, the actual time of fulfilment of the promise made to them is the Day of Judgement, and the Day of Judgement will be very stern and very bitter [for these disbelievers].”

Mrs. Rose's bereavement exemplifies the Case of the Hereafter. How so? God states in the Koran that the world is a testing place. It is based on the principle of tests and trials. God adumbrates this aspect in the Koran (67:1-2): “[He] Who created death and life to test you as to which of you does better deeds. And He is also Mighty and Forgiving.”

And in the Koran (18:7), in its Chapter Al-Kahf God ‘reminds’ us: “Whatever is on the earth, We have made it its adornment so that We test people that who among them does good deeds.”

Further, timely and poignant ‘reminder’ the Koran enlists in (29:2-3): “Have people thought that they will be left alone merely because of saying: “We believed,” and they will not be put through test? Indeed, We have tested all those before them. So, God shall surely know those who are truthful and shall also know the liars.”

Such Koranic verses, among others, clearly convey the idea, that life is a test, where people are tried through various challenges, blessings, and difficulties to determine their faith, patience, and righteousness. It is not a perfect place in its essence. There are glimpses of brilliance and of misery too. Despite all that this worldly life offers, no one wishes to leave it. Even terminally ill patients are placed on ventilators, relying on artificial breathing to sustain them.

It is a consequence of life being a test and trial that man has been granted a free will with a conscience. Free will entails it will be used and misused since there is an air of freedom to exercise one’s wishes to a great degree. The Koran states this clearly (76:3): “We showed him the good and the evil path. It is now up to him to be grateful or profess disbelief.”

God describes the Hereafter as an abode of eternity. Man will see an end to all tests and trials. It is a place of reward and eternal bliss. All the pains and sufferings of this world shall cease and be FULLY compensated with a life of grace and happiness with the same loved ones with whom one spent his life in the world. A place as described by God where they shall have nothing to fear nor shall they ever grieve.

Koran, Chapter Al-Baqara (2:62): “Those who have professed faith [in the unlettered Prophet] and those [before them] who became Jews and those who are called Naṣārā (Christians), and Sabaeans – whoever among them have believed in God and in the Last Day and have done righteous deeds – for them their reward lies with their Lord and [in His gracious presence] they shall have nothing to fear nor shall they ever grieve.”

Koran, Chapter Qa’af (50:31-35): “And Paradise will be brought close to those who fear God, and it will not be far away. This is what you would be promised with – for every person who was very repenting and protected the limits of his Lord, who would fear the Merciful without seeing Him, and who has come with a heart that used to be inclined [towards God]. Go, enter Our Paradise with peace. This is the day of eternal dwelling, and they will get there whatever they desire, and We have even more.“

Jesus in his beatitudes in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5:3-12:

"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.

Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled. 

Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.

Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you."

When we look at the whole canvas of life as presented above, we see the greatest hope for Mrs. Rose to be fully compensated through the trial life had to offer her. The Divine faith has the mechanism to reward Mrs. Rose with the life of eternity with her husband who was wrongfully accused of robbing an insurance company. The unflinching faith in the unseen God (to be believed in through arguments) has the answers for a life of complete bliss in the life hereafter, thereby completing the pair-rule in its fullest manifestation.

 

Aamir Yazdani