My Name Is Javert--Inspector Javert

Let's get one thing out of the way right off. I really like Director Tom Hooper's film version of Les Miserables. As at the live stage performance, I cried through most of the film (trying my best not to make a blubbering fool of myself). As other bloggers have pointed out, the principal weaknesses of the film are  Russell Crowe's inadequate dramatic voice and--even more devastating--his misinterpretation of Inspector Javert.

In Victor Hugo's novel, Javert serves both a dramatic and spiritually significant role as the bookend-opposite of Jean Valjean. This is the classic sacramental contrast between Light and Darkness. Both Valjean and Javert are true believers, but with widely different understandings of Truth; and it all begins with their different responses to the grace of forgiveness. 

Valjean spends 19 years in the hell of prison for an original desperate act that was indeed a crime, but not a sin--stealing a loaf of bread to feed a starving family. Offered unconditional forgiveness and hope of redemption by Bishop Myriel, the ex-convict vows to change his life and use his new freedom and subsequent wealth to serve the desperate poor (les miserables).

With a single line in the movie--detailed more fully in the novel--Javert reveals that he was born in prison. As a young man he vowed never again to find himself on that side of the justice system. He has choosen as his life compass and guardian the letter of civil law, which in his worldview is the mirror image of divine law. His vocation in life is to demand similar obedience and to punish lawbreakers. 

When the all-forgiving Jean Valjean spares Javert's life at the barricade, the Inspector's fragile universe cracks and soon shatters. Reconciliation and second chances have no place in this unfortunate man's theology. He expects to be done unto as he does to others. Offered the love of the former convict, Javert faces the same choice Valjean did at the bishop's feet. Accept grace and become a new man, or reject the gift. Unlike his nemesis, Javert sees no way forward, only confused and raging self-destruction. 

Hugo's Javert is not an evil man. Nor is he a sadist. He is a true believer, who has bet everything on the wrong horse. In biblical terms (Deuteronomy 30:19), the author of Les Miserables offered both Jean Valjean and Inspector Javert a choice between Life and Death. Valjean chose Life. Javert did not.

In Hooper's film version, Russell Crowe seems not to understand his character's soul--what makes him tick. The result weakens the story, obscuring the intended punch line: Choose life! 

Choose love, or exit this world without leaving a ripple on the water.

Alfred J. Garrotto is the author of 

The Wisdom of Les Miserables: Lessons From the Heart of Jean Valjean.

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(c) 2013 by Alfred J. Garrotto

Les Miz and Me

Bishop Myriel's
unconditional love
changes Jean
Valjean's life.

I don't usually share anything publicly about a work in progress. Like most writers,  my computer is loaded with partially completed projects--some abandoned altogether, gathering digital dust. As a rule, it's best to keep my current projects to myself. Considering the imminent film release of the musical, Les Miserables, I'm going to risk an exception. 

First, some background. My all-time favorite novel is Victor Hugo's masterpiece. For me, it's more than a story. It ranks next to the Bible as a literary sign and sacrament of God's love for our frail, often broken humanity. No surprise, then, that my most beloved fictional characters are Bishop Charles Francois Myriel and Jean Valjean (in that order). 

Over a 25-year novel writing career, I have "fathered" dozens of fictional children. Now, this is where I risk sounding a little bit weird. I have this mystical theory, you see. Its hypothesis is this: every character of fiction created in the mind of an author or original storyteller has a real life in an alternate or parallel universe. I base this on a common phenomenon that fiction writers experience upon completion of their stories. In my case, having lived with my characters for a year--or more--and knowing them as intimately as I do, letting go and moving on sets in motion a grieving process. It's similar to the emotions generated by the loss of a loved one.

My parallel universe theory plays out in There's More (working title), my current work-in-progress. The story begins with Hugo's Bishop Myriel being called from his existence in another realm to serve as companion and guide to Afterlife. A young priest has just died in a freak accident--one that turns out to be a murder. This is not the bishop's first experience in this capacity on Earth, but he considers it the most remarkable. 

Like the bishop in my story, this is not the first time Hugo's characters have populated my own writing. In The Wisdom of Les Miserables: Lessons From the Heart of Jean Valjean, I reflected on my personal life experience in light of the spiritual/theological themes embedded in the novel. Also, one of my most-read blog posts on this site is "A Model for 21st c. Catholic Bishops," in which I urge the hierarchy of my church to become servant leaders after the manner of the Christlike Myriel.  

I can't wait to see the latest earthly incarnations of Bishop Myriel (Colm Wilkinson) and Jean Valjean (Hugh Jackman). I wish Director Tom Hooper (The King's Speech) success with Les Miz's most recent rendition. And, in that faraway universe, where our fictional characters live, may the real Myriel and Valjean also delight in it.

(c) 2013 by Alfred J. Garrotto
All rights reserved