1. This crew got killed in their frantic struggle with an erroneous system. There are flaws in the system that prevented them from correctly recognizing the situation.
Air France Pilots Were Probably Confused by Cockpit Instruments in Crash - Bloomberg
"The data and cockpit voice recording suggest the pilots never realized that the plane had stalled, BEA Chief Investigator Alain Bouillard said in an interview. “They hear the stall alarm but show no signs of having recognized it,” he said. “At no point is the word ‘stall’ ever mentioned.”
2. The PF
did try to pitch down. The system acknowledged this effort with a renewed stall warning. He did probably not try again.
Criminal neglect is to blame at this stage somebody who is not here anymore to explain his actions, instead of questioning the entire system including training.