'Les Miserables': A Fitting Lesson for the Age of Obama

Big Hollywood  "The groundbreaking new film adaptation of the Broadway musical Les Miserables features desperate people suffering under soul-shattering unemployment, naive university students decrying the rich and stoking the flames of socialist revolution, an unyielding government official interested not in right and wrong but in following his government's rules, and one heroic individual who follows his faith in God to guide him from one success to another -- all the while truly helping others by using his own private wealth rather than through the ineffective and neglectful government. In short, it is the perfect allegory for Americans living in the Age of Obama."

The writer cautions those watching this film:

The most important thing for a filmgoer to understand when viewing "Les Miz" is to realize that Jean Valjean and only Jean Valjean (Hugh Jackman) is the hero of this story. Do not get fooled by the heroic depiction of the mindlessly earnest students screaming for revolution and building barricades in the streets as a futile attempt to rally the people of France to their side. Watch Valjean's reaction to them as they choose to face certain annihilation as a symbolic gesture. Watch how he values life over their depraved narcissism and ends up making a real difference, not a symbolic one.