[Classic Western Film] "Les Misérables"

Even if you cannot feed yourself, you offer bread to the unfortunate suffering in poverty out of a heart of mercy. Does the unfortunate person then shed tears of gratitude? No, they turn into a swindler, if only for a moment, just to get more bread...

This is the masterpiece "Les Misérables" by the 19th-century French literary giant Victor Hugo, who observed such human nature.

Is a crime committed even once something that can never be erased for the rest of one's life?

I think I read it in a textbook or an abridged version when I was young, but in any case, it was a profound work with a weight and darkness that rivals even Russian literature.

Although it is a long film at 186 minutes, this 1958 production directed by Jean-Paul Le Chanois and starring Jean Gabin is considered the most faithful to the original work. Watched via a library DVD.

Set in 19th-century French society, which pitted people against one another, it depicts humans showing various faces—justice, vice, sin, revolution, love—centered around Jean Valjean.

You rarely come across such a profound human drama. Jean Gabin's acting ability is truly masterful.

It is a grand work that confronts us with fundamental questions: how should one live, what is mercy, and what is a human being?

Jean Valjean, carrying the burden of his sins, says at the end, "There is only one thing that matters in this world: to love." Indeed.

"As long as there is ignorance and misery, this book will not be useless." — by Hugo