Social Issues In Les Miserables

The world that we live in can be cruel, frightening, and a miserable place. Les Miserables can also be rephrased as 'The Poor', ' The outcasts' or 'The oppressed'. And true to its title, the movie or Victor Hugo made sure that we know that it is all about the people who are under the society.

Les Miserables is about a man, Jean Valjean, that was imprisoned for 19 years for stealing a loaf of bread. He is under the watch of the persistent police inspector Javert.

Jean Valjean eventually was granted parole. On parole, he meets only rejection, injustices, and prejudice. He was helped by a Bishop and even though he stole some things from the church he was given a chance to change.

Tom Hooper’s direction of the movie is magnificent, making the eighteenth century alive in the same way he did in his Oscar-winning film The King’s Speech. The costumes, setting, production design are immaculate that it’s as if you are really seeing the show back in its real-time.

Get quality help now

writer-Charlotte

Verified writer

Proficient in: Les Misérables

4.7 (348)

“ Amazing as always, gave her a week to finish a big assignment and came through way ahead of time. ”

+84 relevant experts are online

Hire writer

The actors/actresses performed very well. Hugh Jackman as Jean Valjean who was an ex-convict on a run, a factory owner, mayor, and a foster father played the part exceedingly well. Russell Crowe as Javert as the persistent police inspector is annoyingly good although his aura of authority as a police inspector is not quite enough. The other actors like Anna Hathaway as Fantine, Eddie Redmayne as Marius, Samantha Barks as Eponine, Amanda Seyfried as Cosette performed efficiently.

Helena Carter and Sacha Cohen as the Thernardiers bring out their own brand of menace in the play.

Most lines in the movie were sung. The actors/ actresses sung beautifully. Jackman, Redmayne, Hathaway, and Samantha Barks stood out. Eponine's version of On my Own was amazing. The director mostly focused on the face of the characters when singing. Which worked out excellently, emotions can be felt and seen hearing and watching them sing. In each of the songs, the characters sing you can feel the emotions behind each word or phrase. So when the characters are weeping you can feel their sadness or when they’re happy you can feel the happiness.

Throughout the movie, social issues were shown such as the life of the poor, how they’re treated, them not being given any help like when the epidemic struck, how people react (good or bad) with their situation like Fantine turning into prostitution which can be seen in present times to gain money to support herself or someone. Injustices were also shown in the movie such as when they treated Valjean badly just because of him having been an ex-convict. Also, the unfairness of the law was seen them favoring the rich and maltreating the poor. Like when Valjean was thrown into prison for 19 years just for stealing bread to feed his sister’s child.

The movie is somewhat fast-paced. There are some time skips, the aging of the characters and new characters are introduced so you should attentively listen and watch the movie so that you won’t be lost. That’s one of the downsides of the movie: the baffling progression/transition of the movie.

In conclusion, Les Miserables is a movie with themes that many people can relate to especially with social issues. As a musical adaptation, Les Miserables is stirring, fun, and deep, containing messages that may serve as a wake-up call to people about social issues.