Les Misérables (2019)

This is not the film you might think it is. It is neither adaptation of Victor Hugo's novel nor of the musical based on it. It is its own story, perhaps touching on some similar themes, set in modern day, in a suburb of Paris, where the famous novel is also set. Perhaps the brilliance is the way it ties into the novel's legendary status in French culture, the way that story feeds into French identity of their revolution, to the marginalized immigrant communities of France today.  By making French people see these outsiders as parallel to the French revolutionaries they pride themselves on, they are forced to confront an inconvenient truth about their culture today.

The story takes place over one day, the first day at work for a copy recently transferred into this struggling urban community. From his point of view we are introduced into a number of complex relationships between the officers who patrol the streets and the myriad of people living there. A tension arises after an incident which leads everyone to scramble to figure out how to maintain their position and their safety.

The strength of the film is how it creates credible and lived experiences for each of its characters. They are mostly flawed but no one is painted as a villain, even when they do something terrible. It also doesn't mean their actions are glossed over. Les Misérables is remarkable in how it shows us humanity in a spectrum of people and views, some far more sympathetic than others, but never losing sight of their personhood. Near the end, the day is ending and we feel a bit of peace is settling in. We see everyone regroup and breathe a bit, seeing them for their weaknesses instead of the strength they were pushing on each other through the day. It was a powerful series of scenes.

But then the film doesn't let us off the hook. It gives us one more act, one that is upsetting and confounding in that there is no good way out of it. What we thought might be a relatively happy ending is taken from us. But in that we also see the real power of this story. Because our abilities to place blame without empathy has been taken from us and we are left to watch as the city burns itself out.

Les Misérables
Starring:  Damien Bonnard, Alexis Manenti, Djibril Zonga, Issa Perica, Al-Hassan Ly, Steve Tientcheu, Almamy Kanoute
Director: Ladj Ly
Writers: Giordano Gederlini, Alexis Manenti, Ladj Ly