The Bishop plays a small role in this musical, but it is the Bishop that I have been thinking about since last week. In Les Misérables, love and kindness are woven together and so grace and mercy triumph. Watching either the movie or the live production is nothing if not a holy experience. Les Misérables is great theology wrapped up in an excellent story and beautiful music. Like all good stories there is the protagonist, a conflict, and a critical climax that I will not spoil for those who have not yet seen the show. The contrast between Javert and Jean Valjean is profound as one is consumed with the need for justice and retribution and the other attempts to live out his life in grace, but secrecy. This act of grace is given with a challenge by the clergyman to ‘ Become an honest man.’ He journeys through his life doing just that, though continuously haunted by his past in the form of a police inspector named Javert. Instead of accusations, he is vindicated as the Bishop claims they were given to Valjean as a gift and wonders aloud to Jean Valjean’s captors why he left the silver candlesticks in ‘his haste’. He returns this kindness by stealing the silverware in the middle of the night, is caught by police and taken to be accused by the clergy. He is ultimately taken in by a man of the cloth, the Bishop of Digne, and given food and lodging. Seen as a pariah because of his prison past, he struggles to find work or food.

He was initially given 5 years in prison for stealing a loaf of bread for a starving child but because of many attempts to escape ended up being there for 19. While it is commonly thought to be about the French Revolution, it is actually a different insurrection in 1832 that was quickly and violently stopped.Ī prisoner by the name of Jean Valjean, better known by his number 24601, is granted parole after 19 years of imprisonment. The story,full of redemption and grace, is timeless.įor those who don’t know the story, Les Misérables takes place in 19th century France.

I cannot see Les Misérables without crying. Last week we watched the Tom Hooper production of Les Misérables. We have all seen it live (in London, no less!) but I believe that the next best thing to a live performance is this movie.

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