Off to the Movies: Les Miserables

[valarltd]

My girlfriend took me to see this. She loves it, knows the whole score, etc. Thinks it's a dramatic tale, a love story and so on.

I got a two and a half hour Christian propaganda film, the last quarter of which was watched with aching bladder and claustrophobia. I hate sitting in the middle of an occupied row.

The music was stirring enough, but the song lyrics were utterly predictable. Crowe and Jackman do quite well for actors who can sing instead of singers trying to act.

At base the story remains Christian propaganda, better than anything any evangelical studio will ever turn out. A bad man, determined to get his revenge on the society that wronged him, is transformed through the power of God's forgiveness and a child's love. But the good man, who is mired in the law, cannot accept even human mercy when it is given to him.

That is a more powerful message than Left Behind or Fireproof will ever send.

And of course, being me, there were untoward thoughts. I know someone has written the kid&curtain fic with the men raising Cosette together. I expect someone has done the Gladiator crossover and given Javert a pretty, scarred Scottish houseboy.

Not a bad movie. One I'm please to have seen, if only to be culturally more literate. But not one I'll see again.

Comments

[revdorothyl.livejournal.com]

That is a more powerful message than Left Behind or Fireproof will ever send

Amen, sister! :)

Though I didn't love this movie (mainly because none of the songs really stuck in my head -- with the single exception of Valjean's 'hear my prayer' aria and its reprises, where the relative simplicity of the tune seemed to nicely reflect and amplify the heart-felt lyrics -- and in a film where all the dialogue is sung, that's kind of a let-down), I was thankful for the message of grace and forgiveness that triumphed in the end (even if the very last scene seemed to bury it, or perhaps merge it, into the undeniably stirring and catchy 'revolution' song and the 'barricades-manned-by-the-blessed-dead' production number, which felt almost equal parts distracting and theologically interesting).

Otherwise, I generally go out of my way to avoid 'Christian' movies that are advertised as such, and where the ideological message is of a much less gracious and all-embracing bent, such as the ones you mentioned here and in your comments on my movie post..

[gabrielbelthir.livejournal.com]

There is one point to be made Re: the Christian aspect. Les Miserables is a period piece. If you're going to have an acurate depiction of France during the Revolution, the Church (and it's beliefs) played an integral part in all of society. There's two ways to take 'ethical' plotlines.

I cite the Book of Eli in this case. The central idea of the film is that of a religious text. On the one hand, it's a freaking miracle it ever came out of Hollywood, because of extremely obvious Christian overtones. On the other hand, the very plot revolves around the handling of a religious text, and it's uses both as a moral and ethical compass versus a control mechanism.

A redemptive storyline is not exclusively a Christian one, though by period ideals, it certainly wouldn't be by the teachings of Buddha. If redemption is to be had, it would be through God's grace by the societal understanding of the time. The love of a child is a relatively universal theme as well.

So an argument could logically be made that the nature of the beast (it's setting) dictated its trappings, not the production of the movie.

[valarltd.livejournal.com]

The whole notion of redemption is a Judeo-Christian one. (I combine them because of the story of Ruth, where Boaz had to redeem the right to marry her from a nearer kinsman) There is no need for it in religions that do not have a fall. We are so caught up in the background noise of 20 centuries of Christianity that we tend to see it as a universal ideal and not a specific one. (I once asked "Redeemed from what? Do I look like a book of green stamps?")

I would say it was an explicitly Christian milieu. It is explicitly Jesus and forgiveness. There's no way this is not a Christian film.

And Hollywood is not as hostile to people of faith or specifically to Christians as you've been taught. I'll show you some mainstream films just to watch you marvel. (Ooops, western, but maybe you could handle it with Gene Wilder and Harrison Ford?)

[gabrielbelthir.livejournal.com]

The idea of redemption is most certainly not unique to the Judeo-Christian belief system. It has roots in Buddhism as well as Hindu belief systems. While the conventional understanding of 'redemption' as we understand it in the Western world mimics the J-C trappings much more comfortably (that I'll give you), we percieve wrongdoing against others whether we believe in sin or not. A person who has repeatedly harmed their fellow man in pursuit of selfishness or spitefulness is regarded by society as having 'fallen'. To change their patterns and to find meaning in life is considered 'redemption'. This is as easily a societal understanding sans trappings.

The redemptive storyline (Star Wars comes to mind) feels good. We want to believe the best of everyone around us. We want a happy ending for everyone, even if they have to eat crow for a while. We all get the feeling of 'haven't they been punished enough?' and allow the broken or fallen person to be redeemed. Eventually.

If it's Jesus and forgiveness, you're right. They've set it in Christianity, which explains the last 20 centuries quite nicely for any period piece. You can't have it both ways, bemoaning the influence that Judeo-Christian organized religion has had for two millenia and then accusing every instance of its exposition as propaganda.

Hollywood is hostile to people of faith in so much as they rarely do anything sensational that isn't indy. They need to make their money back, and so banking on the Religious Right to pay the billion-dollar bill is usually frowned upon. Thus my thoughts on anything overtly Christian coming out of Hollywood. They usually use ghost houses or smaller indy companies to do shit like that.

I'll be cashing the green stamps from your left buttcheek later this week, m'lady.

*bows and runs off*