Free Republic

PBS’ Masterpiece has released the first trailer for Les Misérables, the upcoming six-part event adaptation of Victor Hugo’s classic novel, set for premiere on Masterpiece in 2019. A co-production from Lookout Point and BBC Studios, the drama stars Dominic West as Jean Valjean, David Oyelowo as Javert, Lily Collins as Fantine and Adeel Akhtar and Olivia Colman as Monsieur and Madame Thénardier.

“They treat him like a dangerous criminal.” Judith Minor has had to live with that reality for the last 13 years—ever since her son Ricky disappeared behind the bars of Yazoo City Jail in Mississippi because he had drugs worth a handful of dollars on him. He was sentenced to life without parole—something his 76-year-old mother just cannot fathom. But his case is no exception in the US justice system. It could be a pair of socks, a slice of pizza—many petty thieves serve life sentences in the US. Ricky Minor’s offense was carrying one gram of methamphetamine. … “These...

Scant days ago, in that chilly time after Christmas, I strolled into our local theatre in the expectation of being entertained by an established well-loved musical that had just been rendered to film. I had no idea I would emerge from the darkness three hours later a scarlet-eyed blubbering wreck. Having bargained for diversion, I instead reaped a bounty of cinematic moral lessons wherein intense human ugliness runs headlong into the arms of sublime beauty and breaks our aching hearts in a fair exchange. Welcome to the spectacle of Les Miserables. In retrospect, one could not ask for a more...

The groundbreaking new film adaptation of the Broadway musical "Les Misérables" features desperate people suffering under soul-shattering unemployment, naive university students decrying the rich and stoking the flames of socialist revolution, unyielding government official interested not in right and wrong but in following his government's rules and one heroic individual who follows his faith in God to guide him from one success to another all the while truly helping others by using his own private wealth rather than through the ineffective and neglectful government. In short, it is the perfect allegory for Americans living in the Age of Obama. In...