Les Misérables is a deft, non-musical adaptation of the Victor Hugo classic, and an ideal alternative to Game of Thrones GlobeArts
British TV veteran Andrew Davies presents the PBS Masterpiece Theatre adaptation of Victor Hugo's Les Misérables.final season you have my sympathy. Some of us feel we dare not go out in public without a prepared statement on Jon Snow, the Iron Throne and the weather in Westeros.
Still, not everyone is totally enthralled. This weekend will find a lot of people more enthralled by the final round of the Masters or, heaven help us, the hockey playoffs. And if your taste runs to epic drama about good and evil, with compelling characters and sumptuous visuals – and not is dragon-free drama, a heroic poem of a story about the have-nots and, let it be noted, also song-free.
There’s nothing shabby about this forceful series. It has a formidable visual sweep that starts with a stunning overhead shot of the aftermath of the Battle of Waterloo. All the dead, all the killing, and for what? The on-screen intro says this: “After 20 years of war, France is defeated and Napoleon is exiled. A new king is waiting to be crowned. The old order is to be restored. The revolution is to be forgotten.” Then we are thrust into the main characters and main ingredients of the story.
Meanwhile, our central anti-hero Jean Valjean is breaking rocks in prison. Because he stole a loaf of bread. And, back in Paris, naïve seamstress Fantine is being seduced by upper-class rogue Felix. He tells her he’s a poet and she will be his muse. But anyone can see what he’s after and where it will end. By Episode 2, Fantine is reduced to living a horrific life of poverty and regret.
When this version aired on the BBC in Britain recently, it brought forth some windy sneering from the right-wing press. It was called sentimental and overly melodramatic and, specifically, overly sentimental about the have-nots. That is in fact what makes it bracing drama for our time. Treat an entire class of people badly and they will revolt. There is no need to suspend disbelief for that theme. Oh, and Dominic West is simply magnificent as Valjean.
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