Recently I rented and watched Les Miserables. Not to my surprise, I really like the movie, and it conveyed messages that were able to touch my soul. There was one major story element that stuck out to me, and that is what I would like to convey to you.
There are two characters throughout this story that stick out, Jean Valjean (Hugh Jackman) and Javert (Russell Crowe). Jean Valjean starts out as a prisoner who moves forward and learns the message of grace and forgiveness. By contrast Javert is an inspector at the prison who rests in the law as his only hope. As can be seen, there are differences between these two characters, but both remind me of myself.
How Javert reminds me of myself...
Javert reminds me of myself because he is condemned by the law that he tries to uphold. Ultimately he fails the law, and is forced in his own view of the law to kill himself by jumping off a bridge. This has spiritual truths I believe running through it. So often, we as people feel the weight of the law of God bearing down on our shoulders that we can be driven to deep depression, or even suicide. I know that in my personal experience, the law has had effects of depression. There is nothing more depressing than knowing what God requires of man, and not being able to fulfill those requirements.
How Jean Valjean reminds me of myself...
Like Javert, Jean Valjean reminds me if myself as well. Unlike his literal prison, I was in a spiritual prison. I was in bondage to sin, and my task master was hard. My sin was like the parole papers that Jean carried with him wherever he went, and those papers condemn him, but my sin condemns me. However, also like Jean, I have experienced the Grace of God and been set free to a better life. Jean Valjean understood grace and forgiveness through God, unlike Javert who saw only the law.
In the end of the movie, both Jean Valjean and Javert die. However, only one of them is saved...Jean as a character is saved, and it is not because of his ability to uphold the law perfectly, but because he had received grace from God. This is a message that I needed to be reminded of, and this movie left me in tears over this fact. So beyond any other message that this movie had to convey--the stark contrast between these characters and their personal philosophies is what stuck out to me.
If you didn't pick up on this theme, perhaps the movie is worth watching again. If you did however, perhaps this is a theme that is easy to pick up on because it hits home for you as well. Let me know what you think in the comments.
