You are standing in your grave." They are the men we see in Sebastiao Salgado photographs of Third World laborers. The workers sing, "You'll always be a slave. The scene does look like obviously fake CGI, but that doesn't make it any less gut wrenching. He hauls a massive, capsized sailing ship.
Jean Valjean is imprisoned for stealing a loaf of bread to feed his sister's starving children. I did have to repeat to myself, "This is only a movie" even as tears streamed down my cheeks. The human suffering on screen was overwhelming: suicide, enslavement, exploitation of living humans' body parts, prostitution, disease, spite, malice, child abuse, starvation, sadism, a dying man escaping through very graphic sewerage. These coincidences took me out of the movie, but that was a good thing. Typical of big, fat, nineteenth-century novels, there are numerous implausible coincidences that drive the plot. matinée – the theater was packed – applauded at the end, and was very slow to leave the theater, even as the closing credits rolled. The woman behind me was on the edge of her seat, not just because I smell good. Oceans! Mountains! Punishment! Suffering! Religion! Redemption! Will there be a break for lunch? Will we be able to catch our breath? If you can watch this film without crying, I don't want to know you. We were just ten minutes into the movie when I had to look at my watch and ask, okay, how long can they keep this up? Climax after climax, plot twist after plot twist, tearjerking scene after tearjerking scene. It's like eating just the topping of the pecan pie, and not bothering with the crust or filling. It's a series of crescendo moments with no build-up, no backstory, no pause. Les Miserables is very old fashioned entertainment.
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