A Haunting in Venice: Where is God? Spoilers

If you haven't delved into the European discussions on religion and theology, you won't be able to fully grasp the essence conveyed by this film. You might even categorize it as a thriller or mystery, but in reality, it explores a confrontation between existence and God.

" A Haunting in Venice" is laden with religious metaphors in its settings and characters, and through these metaphors, the creative team expresses their thoughts and attitudes towards religion in the post-World War II European world.

In the film, we can see elements such as orphanages, church bells, famine, nuns, Halloween, and rituals, among others. These elements collectively articulate a theme: how to approach the question of the existence of God. This philosophical proposition has been explored from medieval empiricism to Aquinas' Quinque viae, and into modern and contemporary philosophy with thinkers like Spinoza and Kant providing different answers.

After the end of World War II, Europe, which was the main battleground of the war, witnessed a significant intensification of discussions about God. The question that arose was: If God exists, why were there such large-scale casualties and brutal warfare? In the film, we can see the presence of numerous orphans and how they were subjected to unfair treatment, leading to their eventual demise. Additionally, we observe many characters who had once ventured onto the battlefields of World War II, with some enduring the horrors of war and others left with lasting traumas. These elements reflect the profound existential and moral questions that emerged in the wake of the war.

Poirot and the character portrayed by Michelle Yeoh engage in a discussion where they question the possibility of God's existence due to the imperfections and injustices in the world. The answer to this question is revealed at the end of the film. Poirot's response is that perhaps God exists, and perhaps God does not, but the only thing he can do is maintain his own will and face himself as an individual honestly.

This is a very important reason why Spinoza's philosophy was widely discussed after the Second World War.

Deleuze once described Spinoza's proof of God in this way: "One of the fundamental arguments in Ethics is to deny God any power (potestas) analogous to that a tyrant, or even an enlightened rulers... So he has no potestas but only a potentia identical his essence. Through this power, God is the cause of everything that follows from His essence, and also the cause of Himself, that is, His own existence, as existence is contained in His essence."

At a time when people indeed find themselves in a philosophical dilemma when it comes to the question of the existence of God, Spinoza's philosophy offers a thoughtful perspective in this regard: the existence of God does not imply a form of dominion but signifies a kind of power. God is the world itself and does not intervene in the world. This allows for philosophical and theological explanation of human existence and their capacity to shape the world.

Just like in the film, Poirot cannot find an entirely rational explanation why he sees souls or hears strange sounds, nor can he definitively prove which is true. This mirrors the philosophical complexity surrounding the question of God's existence and the human experience of the divine.

The film also explores a subplot that delves into the classic theological topic of the Holy Trinity: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. This concept of the Trinity is a fundamental and complex theme in Christian theology, representing the triune nature of God as three distinct persons in one divine essence. It's often a subject of theological discussion and debate, and its exploration in the film adds another layer of depth and complexity to the narrative.

We can see the mother's control over her daughter and the son's control over his father in the film. In the mother-daughter relationship, the daughter displays the ability to see souls, while in the father-son relationship, the son exhibits the same ability. This actually represents an imbalance in the Trinity relationship. If you understand this, you can anticipate the film's ending and the overall direction of the plot. The mother who controls her daughter ultimately becomes the perpetrator, and the son who controls his father also becomes complicit in the crime. The mother loses her daughter, and the son loses his father, highlighting the complex interplay of control and relationships in the narrative.

From a religious perspective, the father-son relationship in the film provides a philosophical avenue for exploration. The son, who can see souls, loses his father, who suffered from a mental illness, and is then taken in by his former foster mother, who was once a nun. He eventually parts ways with Poirot, who adheres to atheism. After World War II, theology regains the balance of the Trinity and rearticulates the existence of God in new ways. Meanwhile, science and logic find their own answers. They initially sprout from theology, guided by it, but eventually chart their own paths, believing in their own judgments. This illustrates the evolving interplay between theology, science, and personal beliefs.