Les Misérables is a film about redemption and sacrifice. There is a variety of different storylines, most of which focus on the personal lives of the characters with the historical period in the backdrop, though never too far away, as it is closely intertwined in with the characters’ personal stories.
Released on Christmas Day, Les Misérables is a powerful, engaging musical rendition of Victor Hugo’s classic novel of the same name that holds a profound Christian message of love, sacrifice, and redemption.
Set in 1815 in France, a somewhat dark period for those who did not belong to the upper class, Les Misérables focuses on Jean Valjean (Hugh Jackman), who has just been released from prison after almost 20 years. His original sentence — for stealing a loaf of bread to feed a starving child — was for five years. The rest of the time was for attempting to escape.
But Valjean’s imprisonment doesn’t seem to end with his release. Because he has to show his prison papers in every town he enters, he is marked as a criminal for life, enduring cruel treatment from the townspeople he encounters. And because he is stigmatized as a social outcast, it is almost impossible for him to find either work or a home.
One man, however, has the good grace to recognize Valjean’s desperation and offer him a meal and a warm place to eat: a bishop (Colm Wilkinson). But even in the face of such kindness, Valjean cannot entirely abandon his past ways, and steals the priest’s silver plates and cups.
As a criminal who is constantly under surveillance, however, Valjean is quickly captured by authorities, who drag him back to the church and prepare to beat him and send him back to prison.
But then something happens that touches Valjean’s heart in a way that forever changes him. The compassionate priest tells the authorities that he had given Valjean the plates and cups, and he even gives him some silver candlesticks as well, whispering to him that he must use the silver to “become an honest man.”
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