"Les Mis" : "To love another...is to see the face of God"

I just saw the newest interpretation of Victor Hugo's masterpiece (which he originally wrote in five volumes).   While my daughter has another favorite film version of Les Miserables, she needed my tissue and had tears rolling down her cheeks often to the end. We both were in awe much of the way throughout this feast for eyes and ears as well as the heart...A lot of this film/story felt new even while we had together seen the play on Broadway years ago.

The live singing and the themes of love, forgiveness and redemption (told achingly raw) were reason enough to appreciate this current film.  You can easily find some delightful, funny, unfair and sometimes compelling comments in some of the current reviews of this new film.  Some folk even offer that the major themes of this story are made more vivid than ever in this current work.  A few critiques even suggest that the wisdom herein are key to sorting out some of the major dilemmas of our day. I agree.

The most startling line to me was near the end when the hero spoke to his lifelong would be jailer and destroyer:  you followed the law and nothing more.  How many times does such apparent righteousness lead to anything but righteousness?

Upon reflection, I also wonder at our current rampant philosophies of might makes right when not only do our many versions of "law" leave out Mercy and Love but they also leave out genuine Law  (not to mention true justice.)

Finally, while the many ordinary brave people -- many heroes and heroines who gave their lives for their nation became quite lovable throughout the film, there was something anti-climatic at the end of this film.

The exaggerated symbols of the French revolution in all their pomp and circumstance -- shown along with the community of the brave -- didn't seem to fit with the rest of the story -- as an ending at least.

Still, the renewed impact of the story's themes underlined for me in a fresh way the story's central axiom.  This rule for life is applicable for anyone -- any group -- anytime -- any place.  That is: for any of us to truly love -- for any of us to show pure mercy and sustain the same--  is a better way to see the Face of God than any of our ragged versions and attempts at law.

For the next artistic interpretation of Hugo's masterpiece why not carry the themes a little further-- that to love others with courage and mercy when applied to our larger life challenges is also a way to see the Divine as a community.

Perhaps this is the worst of times in terms of the disregard for finding, living and seeing real heart anywhere we might look in our news.

Still -- our best stories and art remind us that even the worst of times can offer more opportunities for mercy and living from the heart since love is often illuminated even more clearly in the darkest night. Not only can we interpret the stories and wisdom of so many ages and find them as ageless as ever -- we also have more resources than ever for using our hearts, souls and purest imaginations to seed alternatives to occupation and bloody change.

Additional Notes/links:

For a review which speaks of the emotion that can happen even with even perhaps an "over the top" or overly-stylized musical version of any story -- where I found my photo above GO here 

For a rather academic-looking set of notes while maybe helpful to understanding some of the story's original structure & comprehensive work (while keep in mind no academic notes can capture the spirit of  such a master storyteller as Victor Hugo's original intentions) GO here