Does the end ever justify the means?
When Jean Valjean steals a loaf of bread to save his starving nephew, he is sentenced to slavery under the watchful eye of police inspector Javert. So begins Les Miserables, one of the best-known novels of the 19th-century, later becoming Schönberg’s hit musical, which in turn has now been adapted for the big screen.
Valjean (Hugh Jackman) is eventually freed from slavery but soon breaks his parole. A selfless bishop shows him incredible mercy, and tells him that he has been blessed to become a blessing: ‘See in this some higher plan. / You must use this [experience] / To become an honest man. / [...] God has raised you out of darkness / I have bought your soul for God’.
‘The world may be changed’
Despite the condemning words of Javert (Russell Crowe) — ‘Men like you can never change’ — when we see Valjean six years later he has found in God what he failed to find in the world: the strength and hope to turn his life around. By hiding the truth about his past he has become mayor in the town where he is a prosperous factory owner. He cares for orphans and widows, protects the sick and imprisoned, he even saves lives. On meeting a former employee, now a dying prostitute (Anne Hathaway), he promises to act as a father to her only daughter, Cosette. But when Inspector Javert is posted to his town, Valjean’s cover is blown.
