This is exactly what I felt Crowe portrayed incredibly well. Interesting how we have such different views of his performance.thellama73 wrote:Javert's whole deal is that he has been brought up to believe that the law is everything. Absolute enforcement of the law is the only moral good. If you break the law, you are bad and must be punished. No exceptions. The amazing conflict in the character comes when his experience with Jean Valjean is utterly irreconcilable with this view. The man who is so unambiguously noble and good, who is willing to sacrifice himself to save others, who spares Javert's life when he has the opportunity even though he has spent most of his life being pursued and persecuted by him, presents a shattering conflict with his entire worldview. He can't handle that, and it ultimately destroys him. Javert is not an evil villain, but someone who has spent his entire life pursuing what he believes is the ultimate good, only to be forced to recognize that he may have been wrong.Golden wrote:Did you? well, what would you say is essential to the character of javert?thellama73 wrote:Les Miserables is one of my favorite stories and one of my favorite musicals, but I was very unhappy with Russell Crowe's interpretation of Javert. I feel he missed the point of the character entirely.
Take your point on the tear for Gavroche, though. But I have no problem with Javert shedding a tear for what he sees as senseless criminality and people even bringing children into a life of rebellion - a tear for the failings of humanity, rather than sympathy for the individual.