Les Misérables (2012) Directed by Tom Hooper

         The movie Les Misérables takes place in 19^th century France, and is a story told through music and singing about an ex- prisoner, and the determined policeman who will not leave him alone (“Synopsis”). The ex- prisoner then goes on to take in the daughter of a factory worker turned prostitute. These events all occur during a time when France was going through a hard time, and a revolution was brewing.

            The movie Les Misérables, which can be translated into “the wretched ones” or “the outsiders” is based off of the novel by Victor Hugo which was based off events that occurred in France from the years 1796 (when Jean Valjean steals a loaf of bread and goes to prison) until the June Revolution of 1832 (Alleyn). The movie does depict Jean Valjean's experience in prison correctly, as prisoners like Valjean “were imprisoned in galleys that didn't go to sea, then moved to a prison called the Bagne” (“Les Misérables movies”) which had horrible conditions. Although the characters are fictional (Roberts), the movie does portray some of the events that occurred in France during this time period accurately, but tends to oversimplify many parts of France's struggles. In 1793, throughout Maximilien de Robespierre's “Reign of Terror” there were many wars and famines before Napoleon Bonaparte took over France and ruled from 1804 until 1814. It was only then that Louis XVIII assumed the throne of France, and when he died, Charles X became king, although he “[was] soon exiled in 1830 during the July Revolution, also known as the Second French Revolution” (Bradford). Finally, Louis Philippe d'Orléans began to rule France (Bradford ). The movie Les Miserables shows the June Revolution of 1832 against the ruler Louis Philippe (von Tunzelmann ) despite the popular belief that it is about the French Revolution of 1789 (von Tunzelmann) . However, although the movie portrayed this correctly, they failed to show most of the events that led up to the June Revolution and showed only that revolution. Another aspect of inaccuracy in the movie is that the movie makes a very huge deal of the June Revolution, leading viewers to believe that it was a large part of French history, although in reality it was relatively small, and not incredibly significant (Maranzani ). During the time of the June Revolution, a “deadly cholera epidemic had exacerbated a severe economic crisis” (“Enjoy Les Misérables”) . This is shown accurately throughout the movie with the hundreds of sick, poor people walking around town, and with Fantine having to become a prostitute in order to bring in money after being fired from her factory job. This accumulation of poverty, as well as the death of General Jean Maximilien Lamarque, who had helped the poor was what triggered the revolution.

            The movie accurately showed how the huge mob of people accompanied Lamarque's funeral procession, and “some witnesses claimed it eventually grew to 100,000.”(“Enjoy Les Misérables” ). The movie also accurately depicted how barricades were used during the revolution (“Enjoy Les Misérables” ), how most of the rebels were students (Maranzani ), and how the citizens of Paris did not come and assist the rebels in their revolution (“Enjoy Les Misérables”). However, while the movie portrayed many of the events historically accurately, the movie ends on a more happy, and hopeful note, which gives viewers a different view on what actually happened (“Les Miz: Mizleading”). The revolution caused most of the rebels to lose their lives (“Enjoy Les Misérables”) and was a failure. It was not until sixteen years later that yet another revolution got rid of Louis Philippe (Maranzani). The director of the movie Les Misérables did manage to incorporate many accurate aspects of French history into the musical movie. However, the dramatic music, and the lack of historical background of what occurred before the June Revolution of 1832, caused the movie to be less accurate, and in some ways influenced the viewers to come to the conclusion that the revolution ended well. In a similar way, the movie focused on specific fictional characters rather than the historical event that occurred, causing the viewers' attention to shift away from the historical aspects of the movie.

           Although the film Les Misérables, based on the popular book by Victor Hugo, has many historically accurate parts such as the funeral procession of Lemarque, and the considerable amount of poverty in France during this time, the extreme focus on this event, and only this event creates an inaccurate perspective of France's history. The directors did not include any of the other important events in France before the revolution, that in fact was not very significant. Also, the music throughout the entire movie makes the violent event seem more romantic, and at the end of the movie, despite the failure of the revolution, and many deaths, the movie ends on a hopeful note, causing the viewers of the movie to see the event differently.