I wouldn’t see another Quentin Tarantino film if my life depended on it. It doesn’t matter that Django might have been an anti-white screed. It could have been “Atlas Shrugged” and I’d still avoid it like the plague.
Les Miserables is a must see, unless you can’t sit still for a 2:38 musical. If that’s the case (like the jerk in front of me who spent the entire time on her Facebook or Twitter account) do yourself and other moviegoers a favor and stay home.
Political/Spiritual commentary follows. Skip this if you just wanted the opinion of the movie.
The story is not only timeless, but it is timely. Les Miserables is a story about the struggle for social justice, and there were plenty of parallels for our time. Paying attention to the moral of the story might just help America, if it’s not too late.
The various characters attempted to achieve social justice, either for themselves or for others, in various ways:
Jean Valjean - theft and revenge
Factory Workers of Montreuil-Sur-Mer - honest work
Prostitutes of Montreuil-Sur-Mer - abandoning morals
Poor of Paris - begging
Enjolras and his revolutionaries - government order
Eponine - selfless love
Javert - law and order
Only one of them found his answer by the end of the movie. Valjean and his family (Cosette and Marius) found a way. It happened when the Bishop of Digne, living out the life of Christ, granted Valjean mercy when he deserved a harsh judgement. Valjean, moved by the Christian example, searched his soul and dedicated his life to God. Only then was he able to break the back of his misery and find joy - even in the midst of struggle. It was the cross that brought justice, not any of those other things.
I tend to forget this and get caught up either in the role of Javert (stand firmly on the law) or Enjolras (create a good social order). But America won’t be saved by hard work, legalizing sin, taking from others, giving to others, a strong law, or a strong political party. America will only be saved by God through prayer. After establishing that foundation, we can take our places in the other spheres as God directs.
Enjoy the movie.
So called "Social Justice" is an invention of the Socialist Ideals of the Progressive Movement. In America we embrace Blind Justice for all, of which Victor Hugo's Les Miserables is a vile anathema.
Justice, in a tradition going back to Aristotle, means treating individuals in accordance with their deserts...Justice is a very different thing from mercy, and mercy may be at odds with justice...
It will be apparent by now that the demands of “social justice” are incompatible with those of individual justice; to the extent that the first demand is met, the second must be sacrificed. If the government takes money out of Peter’s wallet to put it in Paul’s, it may have achieved greater equality, but not greater justice. It is impossible for individuals to receive a just wage on a free market and then be forced to part with a portion of it, for then they receive less than a just wage.
The final irony is that the ideals of the champions of “social justice” are not even achieved when they are put fully into practice. Because people will not—and cannot—produce indefinitely without compensation, the final result of massive transfer payments is equality of zero—universal destitution. That, after all, is how the excesses of the late Roman welfare state gave way to the destitution of the Dark Ages.[11] It has happened many times in history, and it could happen again if the proponents of “social justice”—that is, enforced collectivism—push their demands so far as to cancel out the requirements of individual justice.
From "Justice versus Social Justice" — By John Hospers
Just because you appreciate that God intervened for one individual, the more basic premise of the epic work is that social oppression is meted out to the dumb masses from the top classes on down.
Well said.