The film opens up with a few great shots of New York City.
It finally settles on a high-security prison.
The inmates, mostly black, are all singing ‘Look Down.’
We learn that the one prisoner stole a loaf of bread when he was a teenager and has been in prison ever since. The white cop refers to him as 24601, among other slurs.
Valjean is finally able to escape.
He wanders the city during a montage, while sad music plays. He’s shown applying for several applications. He has to check ‘Yes’ every time that the question asks if he’s ever been convicted. He’s shown renting a crummy apartment. He’s shown buying a phone and putting the number down on applications. There are several back-to-back shots of him filling out applications and the phone not ringing. He’s finally kicked out of his apartment.
He’s seen wandering the streets until a kind man invites him into a homeless shelter. (For some reason, I can see this man being played by Morgan Freeman.) The man gives him something to eat and lets him sleep on a cot for the night. Valjean wakes up, steals something of value, and runs away. He gets about, oh, a block or so before the cops catch up and start brutally beating him. The owner of the homeless shelter races out and vouches for Valjean. Cue ‘What Have I Done?’ which is sung as a shocked Valjean wanders through the streets of New York City. At long last, he decides to turn his life around. His phone rings.
We see shots of rundown buildings and alleyways filled with the homeless.
The camera finally rests on a really over-crowded factory. It zooms into a window. All of the workers are black. All of the workers are exhausted.
‘At The End Of The Day’ plays.
There’s a fight as the workers slut-shame Francine.
The owner assaults her and fires her when she says that she’s going to sue.
She goes to a lawyer anyway but the lawyer becomes too preoccupied as he recognizes one of the cops in his hallway. Fantine leaves and we get a bunch of really sad shots of her being forced to sell herself. (’Lovely Ladies’ and ’I Dreamed A Dream’)
Meanwhile, Valjean has become a moderately successful lawyer (just roll with me here) who is shocked to learn that he has to work with Javert. Javert doesn’t recognize him. Things are still tense. When walking home one night, Valjean stumbles upon Javert arresting Fantine for assaulting a white guy who “must have taken a wrong turn”. Valjean realizes that he turned down her case and that this is his fault. He takes her to a low-income hospital.
Meanwhile, Javert says that they finally caught Prisoner 24601. He sends Valjean an email asking Valean to prosecute. Valjean is thrown into an existential crisis. (’Who Am I?’) He finally replies that he cannot and admits everything. He quickly packs up and has just enough time to stop by the hospital and say goodbye to Fantine before Javert shows up.
There’s a fight and Valjean escapes.
He runs through the streets of New York City before finally finding an address that Fantine told him. It turns out to be a rundown foster home owned by two drunk, abusive, jerks. Cosette is seen sadly singing ‘Castle On A Cloud.’ Valjean takes her away.
Javert is seen walking across the rooftops of New York City, singing ‘Stars’.
Okay now’s where it gets really fun!
You see a bunch of black college students getting together and talking about how much the police brutality is escalating. (’At The End Of The Day Reprise’). They finally decide that they need to do something about it. (’Red and Black.’) Show one of the students, Marius, falling in love with a now grown Cosette. ‘A Heart Full Of Love’. Meanwhile, Eponine walks through the rainy streets of New York City and sings ‘On My Own.’ But who cares about her lonely soul, we strive towards a large goal! Meanwhile, the cops know that this group of students are going to start protests so they’re seen preparing this outrageously militaristic equipment. Show a bunch of back-to-back shots of the students preparing their nonviolent strategies while the cops basically create an army. Have them sing ‘One Day More’.
The black college students are having a non-violent sit-in on the streets. They sing ‘Do You Hear The People Sing?’ Tear gas is thrown by one of the cops. All hell breaks loose. It’s basically a battle-scene. They’re shown running through the streets, facing the horrors, dropping like ‘flies’. The police even kill Gavroche. You see shots of social media and the news crews covering what’s happening. The audience is saying, “Wait…” but it’s all happening so fast that their suspicions cannot be confirmed. Valjean is able to get Marius and Cosette to safety. Javert realizes the horror that he has caused and he jumps to his death. Everyone else is killed by the rest of the police.
Transition to a few months later but the brutality is still going on. Valjean dies (”Epilogue”) while reports are being played of the senseless violence that these unarmed black teenagers faced.
It takes the audience a moment to realize that the reports aren’t fictionalized.
The movie literally ends with real reports by CNN, FOX, ABC, NBC, etc. You see footage of real cops brutalizing real people. All of this is happening as ‘Do You Hear The People Sing (Reprise)’ is playing…..
