MPAA Rating: PG-13 for violence and some sexual content
Appropriate for: Ages 13+
Genre: Drama
Length: 129 minutes
Year of Release: 1998
This adaptation of Victor Hugo’s beloved 1862 French novel is a story about justice, grace, and love. The story takes place in France during the early 1800’s and begins by introducing us to the burdened Jean Valjean. Valjean is an ex-convict who has finally been released from prison after completing 19 years of imprisonment in Toulon. He is bitter and angry from the years spent in prison, but, by the grace of God shown through a kind and wise bishop, he is given a chance to start his life over. Choosing to take hold of this opportunity to be made new, Valjean changes his ways, and, as a result, becomes the mayor of a factory town in France by the end of several years. He has finally turned his back on the anger and bitterness of his past. But, when a familiar face shows up, it seems as if his past will drag him down yet again. Throughout the rest of the story, Valjean continually strives to do the right thing, yet is constantly hunted down by the one person who still knows of his dark past.
Although I have never read Les Miserables, I have seen a very old film adaptation of the book and have also listened to the Focus on the Family Radio Theatre presentation of this classic. I am a huge fan of the Radio Theatre version, and, while I found the old film version to have basically the same plot details as the Radio Theatre presentation, which was my first exposure to Les Miserables, I did not like the old movie at all. So, I was excited to discover that there was a newer film version of this story.
Upon watching this 1998 version, I found that it turned out to be a good adaptation – but, unfortunately, not a perfect adaptation. For instance, this movie is only a little over 2 hours, when, in all honesty, no movie can capture the complete essence of this story with out being much under 4 hours long. Because it is so short, this version cut out a lot of plot details, twists, and turns that I remember from listening to the Radio Theatre version.
Although I have not read the book, there are also a few things about some of the characters that deviated a bit from what I remember about them from listening to the Radio Theatre. The first one I should note is the relationship between Valjean and Fantine. While, in the Radio Theatre version, all I get from their relationship is a sense of grace and pity on the part of Valjean and a feeling of the wonder of forgiveness and mercy on the part of Fantine, I feel that this movie made their relationship just a little deeper than it needed to be by giving their relationship a slightly romantic feel. Although this deviation certainly does not lead to anything inappropriate in the movie, I still find it to be unnecessary.
The other character difference that I would like to note briefly is in the character of Cosette. In the Radio Theatre production, Cosette has a sweet and humble disposition and loves Valjean as if he is her father - never questioning his protection of her or his love for her. In this movie, Cosette is depicted with a slightly more rebellious attitude, and, instead of caring for the man who has always been like a father to her, she begins to question who he really is. She even starts doubting Valjean’s motives in sheltering her so much instead of choosing to accept the fact that he is just caring for her as a father would.
All in all, however, my family and I really enjoyed this movie and I think it is a beautiful adaptation of the beautiful story. The acting is great - made even better by the performance of Liam Neeson, who does a wonderful job portraying the conflicted Valjean. The best parts, though, is how this movie illustrates the grace of God in a very tangible way and how it contains some very important lessons on forgiveness, turning from sin, and self-sacrifice. However, this movie does contain some violence (having to do with the student uprising of June 1832), slight profanity, and some material involving prostitution. Usually, though, the worst this gets is only some rather low-cut dresses. However, there is one part that I warn you to be careful of while watching this movie. It is a 10-second segment, starting at the 30:40 mark, during which the prostitute is laying in her bed, very underdressed. So, I would advise viewers to simply “turn their eyes away from worthless things” and just look away during that part.
Taking everything into consideration, I think Les Miserables is definitely worth the watch, as it is filled with several important life lessons and an entertaining plot. This movie’s PG-13 rating is very appropriate, so I would not recommend this to anyone under the age of 13. But this is the perfect movie for a parents and teens to watch for family movie night. Just keep in mind the few things I mentioned above and be sure to discuss them with your children and/or spouse if you are watching it as a family. Enjoy!
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