DHU
With an AoA of greater than 45 degrees, neither the wings nor the horizontal stabiliser will be acting as aerofoils, but simply as drag surfaces. Therefore it is unclear what the effect of any stick input would be.
Strictly speaking, both are still airfoils, producing both lift and drag as long as there is relative wind, which there was. Control surface movement will still alter their lift and drag albeit with significantly less effectiveness approaching inadequate, particularly with all the nose-up stabilizer trim introduced. For example, recovery may require that the engines be brought to idle to minimize their contribution to the nose-up pitching moment, certainly not an intuitive response when descending out of the assigned cruising altitude. Lowering wing flaps (and landing gear) should provide a nose-down pitching moment. In any event, nose-down elevator shouldn't have been necessary for recovery. Absent a too rearward cg, T-tail, TOGA thrust from under-slung engines, and/or nose-up control input, a conventional airplane trimmed for level flight should be pitching nose down even at this angle of attack.