Have you ever seen the musical...

..."Les Miserables?" Of course you have. Everyone has, at least once. And if you're like me, you couldn't wait for it to be over -- twice! Oh sure, the music is good, but it's so long. (And it's hard to sleep with all that racket.)

I also slogged through the actual book after finding out that it was Ayn Rand's favorite (forgive me, I was young), and found out the hard way why there's such a thing as an abridged version of a novel. (Personally, I could have done without that interminably long description of the sewer system beneath Paris.)

But a really good, and clever, treatment of the story can be found in the 1995 film starring Jean-Paul Belmondo (pictured above). It's set in twentieth century France, particularly the Nazi occupation. While it's almost as long as the musical (three hours), it moves along really well and is worth the investment in time. I just watched it for the second (or third) time and really enjoyed it. If you thought Les Miz was a big, fat bore, I urge you to see this flick.

The movie ends with the main character Henri Fortin (Jean Valjean) quoting Hugo, "The best years of our lives are yet to come." Which reminds me of another one of my favorite films.