What is it about Les Miserables?

If I could only take 5 dvds to a desert island because it was a desert island with wall sockets, one of them would be Les Mis.  Its hit me in a way that few things do.

What is it about it?

2 quick thoughts:

Emotions. Les Mis reminds me that emotions, even the unpleasant ones, bring a kind of  flavor to our lives.

Sadness over a broken relationship, for example, is rough. Yet (stay with me) recently I feel this sort of beauty in the fact that I get to feel an emotion that is real and honest.

Those are the words. Real and Honest. Its almost like how I've heard people say that pain reminds them that they are alive?  These are emotions that only people can feel.

There's something perhaps therapeutic about feeling real, healthy emotions.

Are you rolling your eyes right now? Hmm I feel like two years ago, I would have too.

(2nd thought)

Substance. The best kind.

Les Mis skillfilly and unapologetically  uses Biblical and Judeo Christian themes in its story (themes that I imagine are in the original novel) .

Redemption. The Passion of Christ. Sacrifice. Courage. Liberty. Grace vs, the Law. Salvation. Love (not strictly the romantic kind). These themes are told in creative ways and add to the rich texture of the story.

Maybe , just maybe, these are themes that people respond to because they are themes that people want more of in their life.

To end, here's Jean Valjean

"The day begins...
And now lets see
What this new world
Will do for me!