Les Miserables

During this holiday season, Les Miserables was released as a movie and I had the opportunity to see it – twice!  Les Mis has always been one of my very favorite Broadway plays, and needless to say I was a little nervous to see what the movie was like.  Mostly I was afraid that they would make changes in the movie that would detract from the beauty of the play.  My fears were soon laid to rest as the movie unfolded.  The acting was phenomenal, the singing wasn’t as good as on the stage – but it was good enough that it didn’t detract from the story at all.  And, I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed the close ups of the characters as they sang.  It added a new dimension and enhanced the understanding of the words and story.

I saw the movie twice.  Sometime in the middle of the first time I leaned over to Kim and said, “I’m actually surprised that I like this story – it really is depressing!”  Usually I favor movies and stories that are fairytale quality, you know, where everyone is always happy, the villain is clearly the villain who always gets destroyed, and the princess and prince ride off together in the sunset at the end.  Les Miserables is nowhere near that type of story.  It would be tempting to dismiss the movie as a depressing and sad story where all of the main characters die, all while singing beautiful music.  However, at the end of the movie, with tears streaming down my face, I realized that Les Mis is not about a people who are sad and depressing, it is a story about love and faith and hope.

The second time I saw the movie, I decided to pay special attention to the positive aspects of each character, and as I did so, I found that my enjoyment of the story was compounded immensely.  I’m going to try to describe some of my feelings as I watched the movie, but I seriously think that I need to see it again, perhaps with paper and pen in hand, to be able to capture any measure of the emotion that I felt.  One thing that impacted me the most was the fact that this story was written during the dark ages, a time when there was no true church or priesthood upon the face of the earth.  Satan must have had a glorious time causing poverty, inequality, wars, and hatred.  However, even during this dark time, the Light of Christ is very evident.  It is found in many, many people.  Although evil abounded, goodness, kindness, and love were abundant.

 

At the beginning of the story when Jean Valjean is released from prison and he realizes that he will never truly be free from the punishment of the law, he is angry – a reaction that is common and expected by most people.  He is full of hatred for those who punished him for 19 years, for those who will not give him a chance after paying his debt, and even towards himself.   He feels defeated.  These feelings lead him to give into the temptation to become a thief.

I am in awe of the wisdom and foresight of the Bishop.  His mortal eyes see a man, dirty, ragged, starving, a criminal.  However, in addition to his mortal eyes he has divine insight that allows him to see inside the man, to see him as Christ would see him.  Even though the man had been beaten almost to defeat and gives no sign of being anything other than a gutter rat, the Bishop sees that he is a good man, a kind man, a man who is willing to work hard and share his good fortune with others. 

Lesson #1:  Look past appearances and first impressions.  Ignore anger and bitterness.  Seek to see the good in each person, to see them as Christ sees them, as a brother and one who deserves to be loved. In Conference 2012 President Thomas S. Monson said, “We must develop the capacity to see men not as they are at present but as they may become”.

Jean Valjean decides to devote himself to God; he assumes a new name and spends his life helping others.  When he realizes that he inadvertently caused Fontine’s demise, he did everything in his power to right the wrong.  He did not merely offer apology or give money, he devoted his life caring for Fontine’s child.

Lesson #2:  Righting a wrong is not just about offering lip-service or giving money.  It requires time and sacrifice.

When another man is mistakenly thought to be Valjean and captured, Valjean sees that he has a way to permanently put his past behind him, he would never have to worry again about being caught.  Although tempted to choose the easy, safe road, he knows that it is not the right road.  He understands that by ensuring his own safety the other man would have to suffer greatly.  To add confusion to his decision, he understands that if he turns himself in and is imprisoned his factory will have to close, putting hundreds of employees out of work.  He struggles but finally remembers:

“My soul belongs to God, I know
I made that bargain long ago
He gave me hope when hope was gone
He gave me strength to journey on”

He knows that if he makes his decision based on what is right that God will give him strength to handle all that is given him.

Lesson #3:  Doing what is right is always better than doing what is easy and the Lord will always be with you to help you handle life.

I believe that Javert was a man who was devoted and earnest in serving the law, but in doing so, he wore blinders.  When he confronts Jean Valjean, he says,

Every man is born in sin
Every man must choose his way
You know nothing of Javert
I was born inside a jail
I was born with scum like you
I am from the gutter too! 

Javert was born in poverty, yet had risen to a place of prosperity and power.  I think that he was ashamed of his humble beginnings and had convinced himself that anyone who did not climb out of the gutter was inferior and therefore deserved to remain.  He was devoutly devoted to the law and believed that the law must be obeyed no matter what the means. 

Later when Jean Valjean offers him mercy and lets him go free when he could have evened the score after all the years that Javert had hunted him, Javert is confused.  His strict belief in authority, in right and wrong, make it impossible to him to comprehend that there can be different way to look at things.  Stuart Fernie (http://www.stuartfernie.org/valjav.htm) explains that Javert “sees that he may have been mistaken in his judgment of Valjean, but because his philosophy is based on application of rules rather than thought and consideration, he sees no way forward for himself - for him it is a choice between believing in what is ‘right’, or believing in nothing”.  Javert was not a bad man, he just rigidly put his faith in the wrong place and refused to seek answers for himself.

Lesson #4:  Be willing to question, to explore, to seek out personal answers.  Beware of blindly moving forward, accepting another’s belief without receiving personal testimony.  Receipt of personal witness of truth is the only way to have peace.

Marias was a young man of wealth.  Instead of becoming a spoiled rich kid or joining in the ranks of those who felt that they were privileged and entitled, he chose to work towards making life better for the poor and hungry of Paris.  Along with several other young men, Marias had a vision of a country who embraced equality of the people.  These men were willing to sacrifice all, including their lives, to fight for freedom.  These were men who did not sit back and hope for something better – they did something to make it happen. 

Lesson #5:  Freedom and equality are rights that are worth fighting for.  We should not be content to sit back, we should be willing to step of out comfort zone in order to improve the conditions of those less fortunate.

One of my very favorite parts of the movie is when Fontine appears when Jean Valjean is dying.  She takes his hand as the walk off together. It reminds me that death is not the end, but the beginning of another life in which we are greeted by friends and family.    It is a place where we have peace and rest from the trials and temptations of this world.  How happy we will be to arrive home again, to have the loving arms of our Savior around us as He welcomes us back into His presence and be surrounded with our loved ones. 

 Come with me
Where chains will never bind you
All your grief
At last, at last behind you

Lesson #6:  When we have completed all we have to do in this mortal life, we need not fear death, for we will then have the opportunity to be with our family and friends in Paradise.  And best of all, we will have the opportunity to be with Christ once again.

Without a doubt the most emotional and powerful part of the story is at the end of Jean Valjean’s life.  After he made the commitment to live his life serving others, he truly developed a love for his fellowman.  As he dies, he joins Fontine in singing:

For love is everlasting
And remember
The truth that once was spoken
To love another person
Is to see the face of God

Isn’t that what life is truly about?  LDS.org states “Jesus Christ is the perfect example of charity. In His mortal ministry, He always “went about doing good,” teaching the gospel and showing tender compassion for the poor, afflicted, and distressed”.  When we love others, we are following Christ’s example.  It is the time when we are most like Christ.  When we love another person, we truly do see the face of God.

Lesson #7:  Love is what life is all about.  The only way that we can truly follow in Christ’s footsteps is to develop a deep and abiding love for our fellowman.  And the only way to learn to love others is to serve them.  By letting go of our own selfish desires and looking to fulfill the needs and others we will find that our hearts become full of pure joy.  At that time, we see the face of God.

I know that there are many more points in the movie that I have not addressed; perhaps I will address more after I see the movie again!  The bottom line is that no matter where we are, no matter what the circumstance, if we look we can find goodness, we can find light.  God will never leave us alone, He has promised that “I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you” (John 14:18).