06/02/2026
NEW Article by Scott Tolhurst: Grace on the Big Screen
Years back, my wife and I were late to the film, Les Misérables. We got stuck in the second row from the front, gazing straight up at the screen. I am not a film critic, but.... if you don't enjoy musicals, if you are tired of period pieces, if you know nothing about the book, if you have a lousy seat...it was still a film worth seeing. Why? Not for the heart-wrenching scenes (take Kleenex), not for the Oscar-winning performance, not for 19th century French history. See it for the sake of grace. Apart from the Scriptures, I have rarely seen a better portrayal of what grace is and what grace does.
Victor Hugo's story is a contrast on the ways of Law and the ways of Grace. Valjean is a man with a guilty past he cannot escape. Javert is the enforcement of law, who hunts Valjean to ensure that strict justice is done. Valjean's life and contribution to society are radically altered by the taste of grace. He becomes an agent of mercy to those around him. Javert’s insistence upon the penalty of law intensifies. He grows so brittle in his pursuit of punishment, he snaps. Valjean, who tasted grace, embraces life, joy and love. Javert, who sees only crime and punishment, is unable to receive the gift of grace offered him. The moral of the story is clear; it is not perfectionism that will make a better world, but the mercy granted to our failures. Mercy from God and one another. The teaching of Scripture is the same.
In real life, people don’t converse in song. In real life, people aren't as interesting or funny as a screenwriter script. Outside of theatres, the tragedies of life have no musical score. In our routines, the wheel of coincidence doesn't take us full circle to a point of enlightenment. In our world, the villains are not so obvious, and love is not so compelling. That's what I was thinking as I left the movie, but I now admit I was wrong. Apart from strangers breaking out in 4-part harmony, the world on the screen is the world out my window.
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