Who Knew ‘Les Misérables’ Had a Christian Message?

The Christian Diarist ^ | December 30, 2012 | JP

[CHRISTIAN DIARIST]

It's wonderful to see that 'Les Miz,' the Christian parable set to music, has fared so well at the box office, besting both 'The Hobbit' and 'Django Unchained.'

[Mountain Mary]

I wouldn’t see it if you paid me. Why ruin perfection(saw the play twice,,once in London) by having to pretend that you aren’t watching familiar Hollywood faces usurp the roles of the original London cast?

Colm Wilkinson is Jean Valjean, not Hugh Jackman. Sierra Boggess is Fantine, not the liberal loudmouth, Anne Hathaway.
No thanks. I won’t give my money to these anti American leftists.
Besides, I heard that the movie sucked with a heaviness that never lets up throughout.
The music of Les Miz is fantastic so get the CD of the original production and play it nonstop for a year or two like I did.

[Nifster]

Whether you understand it or not The Hobbit is Christian allegory (as is true of all of Tolkien’s work much like Lewis and The Chronicles of Narnia). I much prefer the book to the ridiculous musical that Broadway cobbled together for Les Miserables. The musical still spends too much time glorifying the French Revolution which in its very nature was communist and driven by class warfare.

Django Unchained....bleeech why bother

[nevermorelenore]

found the plight of the poor fascinating in the picture....
America’s people at the “poverty” level have NO idea what poor is.....

[Mercat]

I gave a copy of the Tenth year anniversary concert to my daughter for Christmas. She has always identified with Cossette since we adopted her from a bad situation when she was 3 1/2. She was thrilled.

But I’ll probably go to the movie. I love seeing, hearing, reading a favorite work in many different formats. It only enhances the experience.

[9YearLurker]

If you think English actors aren’t leftists, you’re kidding yourself.

To me, the essence of any show is in its script and music, not in the performers of the moment.

[Arm_Bears]

I am reflexively suspicious and skeptical of anything that receives the praise of the OFM (Obama-fellating media) and tend to avoid it. However, Mrs. Bears dragged me to see this production. The underlying Christian message was evident to me early on. This has likely been missed by the Left in their rush to embrace the “revolutionary” portion of the story.

[Fiji Hill]

In his autobiography Witness (New York: Random House, 1952), Whittaker Chambers raved about Victor Hugo's Les Misérables (Paris: Hetzel, 1862), which he read over and over when he was young. Although the book, in his view, is flawed and falls short of being a literary classic, nonetheless, in its pages are found "the play of forces that carried me into the Communist Party and out of the Communist Party." Chambers said that the book taught him that Christianity and revolution are irreconcilable and that ambition, arrogance, pride and power cannot overcome an authentic and persistent humility, which is the basic virtue of life.

Les Misérables, said Chambers, taught him Christianity, although he "scarcely knew it," and gave him his "first full-length picture of the modern world--a vast, complex, scarcely human structure, built over a social abyss of which the sewers of Paris was the symbol, and resting with crushing weight upon the wretched of the earth."

[Timmy]

Tolkien specifically rejected the idea that his works were allegory, stating he hated allegory in all its forms.

[Timmy]

Loved that book. Should be required reading for all Americans.

[stuartcr]

I think anyone that’s read it, realises that.

[paint_your_wagon]

Christian parable? Hogwash. I read the book years ago, and the one of the things that stuck in my mind was Victor Hugo’s repeated insistance that the problems of the poor would be wiped out once universal education was established. He mentioned several times that all of the ills that befell Jean Valjean were a direct result of his lack of the ability to read. Victor Hugo, as the narrator, used his story to push a “social justice” agenda.

[Oberon]

Tolkien specifically rejected the idea that his works were allegory, stating he hated allegory in all its forms.

Yes, and as an Oxford philologist, Tolkien knew what allegory was. I would say that "allegory" isn't really the right world to describe his works; better to say that they had strong Christian themes.

[pineybill]

As a “Les Mis” aficionado I approached the movie with great trepedation. Check out the reigning Jean Valjean- Alfie Boe on you tube singing “Bring Him Home” at the 25th Anniversary concert or at this year’s Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas concert-and you will hear near perfection-so how Hugh Jackman would compare was problematic.
So I was presently surprised that I enjoyed the movie-the theatre was 2/3 full, and for two and one half hours the movie ran there was barely a movement from the audience. The oft criticized close ups during the musical solos actually amplified the emotions of the songs-the advantage of having actors singing rather than having singers acting. You could hear the weeping on many numbers. Overall a pleasant surprise.

[pineybill]

As a “Les Mis” aficionado I approached the movie with great trepedation. Check out the reigning Jean Valjean- Alfie Boe on you tube singing “Bring Him Home” at the 25th Anniversary concert or at this year’s Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas concert-and you will hear near perfection-so how Hugh Jackman would compare was problematic.
So I was presently surprised that I enjoyed the movie-the theatre was 2/3 full, and for two and one half hours the movie ran there was barely a movement from the audience. The oft criticized close ups during the musical solos actually amplified the emotions of the songs-the advantage of having actors singing rather than having singers acting. You could hear the weeping on many numbers. Overall a pleasant surprise.

[Ham Hock]

There is a Christian message in the unabridged book; it’s the story of the Catholic priest. Unfortunately, what you find in the book store is an abridged version that edits out the section on the priest, among other things.

[Cicero]

Yes, Tolkien rejected simple minded allegory, where this stands for that, and so forth. He thought that C. S. Lewis was too obvious, with figures like the lion in his children’s fantasies.

But he didn’t reject the basic Christian principles that underlie his fantasies. For instance, the Silmarilion is not based obviously on the story of Adam and Eve and the serpent, but when you reach the last sentence it becomes evident that you have read a version of the story of the Fall.

[longfellowsmuse]

I tend to agree with you. My MIL saw this on Christmas and wants hubby and I to go see it. I saw the musical myself in Boston many years ago, I was a teenager at the time so while enjoying an outstanding performance I am not sure how much I actually got out of the message.

That being said I have no intention of seeing this in the theatre. I really loathe the hollywood set and their liberal/communist pablum that the sheeple populace eagerly laps up. Truthfully they wouldn’t know a christian message if Christ himself in the flesh was explaining it to them. They do however long for a communist revolution that would create the desired “utopia.”

[ghost of nixon]

found the plight of the poor fascinating in the picture.... America’s people at the “poverty” level have NO idea what poor is.....

I had the same reaction - if I was could redo the federal welfare state, I would eliminate food-stamps and most other forms of welfare and give the "so-called poor" a copy of this movie to watch.

[Cordio]

What an elegant response you gave, “I love hearing, reading a favorite work in many different formats. It only enhances the experience.” And that it was! I saw the stage production twice and have the original cast recording to listen to but I thorougly enjoyed the movie for all the extras movies can give.