I am Jean Valjean

One word from him and I'd be back
Beneath the lash, upon the rack
Instead he offers me my freedom
I feel my shame inside me like a knife
He told me that I have a soul,
How does he know?
What spirit comes to move my life?
Is there another way to go?

I am reaching, but I fall
And the night is closing in
And I stare into the void
To the whirlpool of my sin
I'll escape now from the world
From the world of Jean Valjean
Jean Valjean is nothing now
Another story must begin!

(Lyrics from Who Am I? as sung by Jean Valjean.

From Les Mis

Written by Claude-Michel Schonenberg and Alain Boublil)

 

 

I was blessed by an opportunity to go see the movie/musical Les Mis this past weekend.  My sweet son was my date.  He actually was the one who convinced me to go.  Y'all I don't normally go to the movies.  (Because hello...$40 for 2 cokes and a popcorn is not my idea of a good time.) 

 

Usually I just wait for movies to get to On-Demand before I watch them.  But my son said I just had to go and see this movie.  He had seen it over the Christmas break and offered to go see it again if I'd go with him. 

 

Well...long story short (too late for that...sorry) we went.

 

And y'all.

 

Y'all.

 

Y'ALL.

 

I was quite simply...blown away.  It's been 4 days and I still haven't quite recovered.  How Hollywood managed to put out a movie that proclaimed the Gospel of Grace so wonderfully and beautifully without totally cutting the Lord out of the picture is nothing short of a true-blue miracle. 

 

True. Blue.

 

I'm telling you I practically floated out of that movie theater.  I had to because we had flooded the dang thing with tears.  Seriously...my son said it sounded like a symphony in there what with all the sobbing and sniffling and nose blowing.  And when the rest of the audience got into the act...well...I'll just leave it to your imagination.

 

The movie...it is a tear-jerker.  So take some Kleen-ex with you.  Don't be like yours truly and think "Oh I'm not gonna cry." 

 

Yes.  Yes you will.

 

The lady to the left of me said she would've shared but she could only find one measley kleenex and it had to last her the entire 2 and 1/2 hours.  I'm guessing she hasn't heard of our Lord's miracle of the fishes and the loaves but whatever.

 

The two sweet little girls sitting next to my son didn't speak English very well (bless 'em) and they spent the entire movie sobbing in Chinese.  I didn't know that was possible but it is.

 

So yeah.  Tears.  They will flow like a river. 

 

But they will be good tears...especially at the end and you smack yourself in the head and realize the full message of what Mr. Hugo (author of the novel Les Miserables which is what the musical is based upon) had to say.  Not that I did that.  I'm speaking hypothetically of course.

 

The whole thing is uplifting and glorious in ways that Hugh Jackman's shamefully absent (and sadly missed) sideburns have striven-to-be-but-never-quite-made-it in all those X-men movies.

 

It is what going to the movies should be.

 

So don't wait for On-Demand.  Shell out the bucks and go.  It's worth it.

 

But please, for the love of all you and yours hold dear...refrain from singing "I Dreamed A Dream" mournfully to yourself in the shower the next morning as you ready yourself for work.  You may find yourself in a puddle (ha...you see what I did there right?) shivering and sobbing in a fetal position on the floor when your husband starts pounding on the bathroom door complaining that he's late and he's gotta get ready too for Pete's sake.

 

But at least if it does happen you can reach up and grab some toilet paper for your nose.  If you've remembered to change the roll of course.

 

But again...that's just a hypothetical.