I went to see the musical “Les Mis” solely because my wife, Angela, wanted to go, but I discovered something interesting while I was there. The movie contained some profound truths. Seriously.
But let me start at the beginning…
I agreed to go to this movie because my wife is a musician, so I decided to be a good spouse. When the musical started, the first thing I did was calculate, based on the length of the movie, what time I’d be getting out. Next, I calculated what time the mid point was, so I would know when it was half over. Both calculations seemed depressing–it’s a long movie.
Very early on, Angela and I realized a man on our row had fallen asleep. Is it possible to be unimpressed and envious at the same time? I think that describes what I was feeling.
Anyway, the movie started, and it looked like Hugh Jackman had lost a serious battle to Magneto (oh wait a minute, that’s the wrong movie). A little while later, I understood how financial needs pressured Anne Hathaway into stealing jewelry from Batman’s family (oh wait a minute, that’s the wrong movie). Gradually, I observed the pluckiness and drive that earned Ruseell Crowe the nickname “Lucky Jack” and made him such a good “Master and Commander” (oh wait a minute, that’s the wrong movie).
There was a lot of singing, and I must admit that going into it there was one song I liked pretty well (I even have it on my iPod). I walked out of the movie liking maybe 4 songs, which isn’t much in a 2 hour and 38 minute movie, but it was an improvement.
There was one pretty harsh scene and one crude one, but there was also a lot of thought-provoking, good stuff. This was a powerful story about cruelty, breaking people down with the letter of the law, forgiveness, grace, atonement, redemption, and salvation. And there was a lot of singing.
Maybe all of that singing made it easier to keep focused on the themes of the story instead of being distracted by a lot of action. I don’t know.
Okay, I’ll say it. It was kind of moving. And by “kind of” I mean “very.”