Some Miserable Work

This past weekend, I went to see the new Les Miserables movie, which I had been anticipating for quite a while now. I love the story, and became a fan of the musical long ago, when I first saw it in Los Angeles in 1980 when it debuted at the Shubert Theatre in Century City. No one had ever seen anything like it. The staging was incredible and very different, with a revolving set that became Jean Valjean's environment, his home, the streets of Paris, as well as the famous revolutionary barricade.
I was entranced!

I can say that over the years I have seen it in Las Vegas, in Canterbury in England, and on the London stage where it has played for over 25 years! Each performance is memorable, and the viewer gleans more of the subtleties with each production.

The new movie has the benefit of some computer-generated images that SUPPORT, not overwhelm, the film. Without giving anything away, the opening scene is monumental, with the hauling into drydock of an enormous tall ship that has been damaged in battle. Jean Valjean is part of a chain gang of hundreds and hundreds of men, pulling hand-over-hand the large ropes that have been tied to the ship. They sing the famous "Look Down" as they work relentlessly to bring the ship in. Guards stand above watching, chiding, beating the men whose exhaustion is more than apparent.  

I started researching the concept. In the previous productions, Vanjean works in a quarry, now he is up to his chest in water, chained around the neck, and to others. The chain gang, as it were, goes way, way back, but in the 18th Century, instead of slaves, it was convicts or indentured servants doing this type of work. No compensation save for sustainance, and perhaps the opportunity to do something other than sit in a cell.

At right is an illustration of a ship being righted in the water in a dry dock. The scaffolding is gigantic, and you can image how many men had to be employed.

In the original book by Victor Hugo, Jean Valjean was a galley prisoner, and was in danger of returning to the galleys. Police inspector Javert who relentlessly pursues Valjean had a father was also a galley prisoner. As always, various punishment was incurred that "fit the crime". Financial debt sometimes landed someone in the debtor's prison, like the famed Marshalsea (at left) in London. This concept is ironic, as the debtor is confined, unable to work, and pay off the debt. He must rely on someone else to work for him, or languish within the prison walls. But those who were involved in more heinous crimes "enjoyed" the harsher punishments of slave labor, life sentence, torture or execution. As you might recall, "slaves of the law" had very few rights in the 18th Century. Human rights and prison reform did not come into play until much later in the 19th Century.