This feature drama, produced to celebrate the 60th anniversary of Fuji TV, is an adaptation of Victor Hugo's classic masterpiece Les Miserables set in the 1990s in Japan. In Kobe in 1993, Jun Baba gets taken to a juvenile prison due to a killing of a man who cheated his mother out of all her money in self-defense. One day, he hears that his younger brother, who has been desperately ill, is in a critical condition and breaks out. However, he finds out his brother is already dead. In the depth of despair, he tries to kill himself but is saved by a man who runs a self-support facility. He begins to live at the place, and befriends with Takumi Watanabe aspiring to be a lawyer. In 1995, the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake hits and their friendship comes to an end. Crushed under the debris, Takumi persuades Jun to live his life instead. Jun swears to live on assuming Takumi's identity. Meanwhile, Ryosuke Saito, the son of the man that Jun has killed, finds his life turns dramatically. Bound together by fate, the two meet in Tokyo in 2004, as a lawyer and a police detective. Getting along with each other, Ryosuke finds out that Takumi is actually Jun, his father's murderer. Ryosuke tries but fails to catch Jun, and the story follows Jun living a hidden life in the countryside of Fukushima in 2019. The long journey of the two men, as a fugitive and a pursuer, is about to end here. With atonement and forgiveness as its themes, this story illuminates the lives of some seventeen people, focusing on the two men who lived through these turbulent 30 years. Edit Translation
- English
- magyar / magyar nyelv
- dansk
- Norsk
- Native Title: レ・ミゼラブル
- Also Known As:
- Director: Namiki Michiko
- Screenwriter: Hamada Hideya
- Genres: Romance, Life, Drama
Cast & Credits
- Dean Fujioka Main Role
- Iura Arata Main Role
- Yamamoto Mizuki Main Role
- Yoshizawa RyoBaba Jun [Young]Main Role
- Okuda EijiTokuda HiroakiSupport Role
- Murakami NijiroWatanabe TakumiSupport Role
Reviews
Short but good !
I watched this TV movie because I'm a fan of the novel Les Miserables and I was curious about what a modern, Japanese adaptation would look like. But to be honest, I didn't expect much from it since the film only lasts two and a half hours, and in general, the only works that can convey the integrity of the plot of Les Miserables are series.However, this telefilm succeeds not only in that but also in being faithful to the spirit of the novel while being innovative and knows how to adapt the story to the modern era and to the current times. We find there the denunciations of social injustices, the daily struggles and also the complexity of the human soul.
The actors are also all very fair and touching. I repeat myself, but we find the complexity of the various plots of the novel. The end is nevertheless more positive, which does not hurt, but does not however fall into utopia as some adaptations have done (see the 1998 film).
The film is also interesting even for those who do not know or are not fans of the novel.